Maturing
by MacMan3679
Summary: Kim and Ron's post high school summer at Yamanouchi.


Yamanouchi

Sunday, June 3, 2007| Yamanouchi, Japan| 2:05 am

A young couple walk out of an arrival terminal of Tokyo international airport. It was hard to believe that just 48 hours ago, an alien invasion had been thwarted. The machines of dominance that caused so much destruction had been removed by the various governments in whose jurisdiction they were in. It was not that unusual really; fore in a world full of mad scientists hellbent on ruling the world, or insane noblemen seeking absolute power, most world governments were quite used to cleaning up after the rampages of these demons. The sell and salvage of such devices more than made up for the destruction caused by them. In this world, megalomaniacal villainy was as much a part of the economy as the trucking and fishing industries.

The couple proceed through customs, moving leisurely never straying more than four feet from each other for more the five minutes. When they part, they kiss, when they return to each other they kiss and hold each as if they were afraid of never seeing each other again. While not co-dependent, each feels safer when standing together, as if any moment, something might occur to sweep the other out of their lives forever. This is a well-founded fear, because it had almost happened during the alien invasion.

The young woman wears a sky blue, long-sleeved, vee-neck blouse; a pair of loose, dark, denim jeans, held up by a black leather belt, if anybody was looking at the backside of the pants they would notice a banana over one of the back pockets. The young woman has a lithe, athletic figure, supple, well-toned limbs, with just enough baby-fat to give her well defined curves. She is slightly taller than many women in her country, with a mane of fiery, long, red hair gathered into a ponytail. She has bright piercing, green eyes that can be as calm as a summer breeze when she is happy or as hard as stone when angry. Those eyes fixed straight-head never wavered, unless they looked at the young man accompanying her. Then, they showed such trust and faith in him, and an absolute love and respect that nothing and nobody could touch.

The young man wears a purple high school football jersey with the number seven in front and behind, slightly too big for him, over a cream white turtleneck; the pants he wore spoke more of comfort and practicality the fashion, a pair of tan cargo pants, a heavy-duty belt and a pair of strong elastic suspenders – to prevent an occurrence that had happened all too often in the past. This young man, if one could observe him through the bulky garments, also had a strong, athletic robust body, with slightly muscular limbs, that were stronger and more agile than even he suspected. Slightly taller than his companion, he had a shock of blonde hair, kept short and a little messy, and eyes, deep pools of brown one could lose themselves in, never resting in one place for more than a second as they searched for danger. Because there was nothing in his world more important to him than his best friend, girlfriend. The woman he held in his arms at that moment. He knew and she knew that he would give his life for her, just as she would for him without a second thought.

They moved through the masses, like a ship moves through the water, moving out of the international terminal toward baggage claim. They retrieved their baggage which was not much, just a single suitcase per person and headed for the exit to meet their escort. They saw a familiar face with a sign that read 'Possible + Stoppable' in their hands. Their escort a thin, agile young lady, native to Japan who knew them well smiled, and said as the couple approached, "It is most excellent to see you again, Kim-san," she said as Kim Possible let go of Ron's hand and embraced her good friend Yori.

"Totally," she replied, "I am so looking forward to another Girl's Night Out mission with you Yori," she looked at her man with arched eye brow, "it'll be so nice to complete a mission without somebody's pants falling down."

Ron scowled feigning hurt feelings, "Hey, I've been taking care of that since our half-a-versary, I wear that belt you gave me," he pulled up his jersey revealing his suspenders, and reached in to stretch them out, "and I will now be wearing these." He let go of the straps, which immediately snapped back to position, releasing their energy. "Ow, owowow!"

Kim and Yori both laughed at his antics, they both knew that to underestimate him was a mistake, "You with your American-style humor, Stoppable-san," she chuckled, as she looked at Kim discretely asking permission. Upon receiving a slight nod, Yori stepped up and gave Ron Stoppable a kiss on the cheek. While Yori had once harbored feelings of affection for him, she now considered him as close to her as her older brother Hirotaka, and as precious to her as her baby sister, Hana Stoppable, now residing in Middleton with his family, under the tutelage of Rufus-san, who would continue instruct the child in the ways of the Yamanouchi, while Ron is away. Yori steps back and bows formally and says, "Welcome home, my spirit-brother, your arrival with Possible-san is most welcome after the events of the past two days."

Ron sensing something important had just occurred, returned her bow and greeting, replied in slightly accented Japanese, "Thank You very much, my spirit-sister, Kim and I are honored to be invited. _'Arigatō, watashi no seishin shimai, Kim to watashi wa shōtai sa rete kōeidesu.'_ " Unused to receiving such a personal welcome from Yori, he looked around scanning his surroundings and the people nearby, he failed to notice Kim and Yori's surprised looks.

"Ron," Kim asked still surprised, "When did you start to learn Japanese?"

"Right after the exchange program," he said, shyly, "I realized that I might be called upon to come to Japan again if the Blade were ever in jeopardy."

Kim was astonished and quite proud of his foresight, "But you never spoke any of it on any of the subsequent missions that took us to Japan after the exchange program."

He looked down thinking he was in trouble but pushed on anyway, "Well, I was still not very good at the language on any of those missions, not to mention I was still under the vow of secrecy until a year ago, when you learned about everything regarding the student exchange program." He said not looking at her, still thinking he was in trouble.

"Yet you never spoke it during any of the missions regarding Hana, the Yono, or the nefarious Monkey Fist which was maybe nine to six months ago," said Yori, who was also quite taken aback, by Ron's fluency with her native tongue.

Ron scratched the back of his head as he look at both of them with more confidence as he replied, "Well, that was because Kim was there," he looked at her showing his sincerity, those deep pools of brown alighting with love, "I knew she had never studied the language, and it's quite disrespectful, to speak a foreign tongue when not everybody in the conversation can," he turned his attention to Yori, "and I knew that KP was totally jelling about you, Yori." Kim scowled at that part, _I was so not jelling, Ron Stoppable,_ she started, before remembering her actions on at least the first mission, _well maybe a little._ "I never wanted to give Kim the impression that I was making a pass at you, or lead you on either." Kim was blown away with this side of Ron, that she always suspected was lurking beneath the surface. She looked at her boyfriend, she already loved him more than she had ever loved anybody else in her life, including her parents and brothers. She did not believe it was possible for her love for him to deepen any more than it already was. She was wrong. If her love for him were the Grand Canyon before, now it was approaching Marianas Trench levels.

"Yori," Kim said, to her Japanese friend, "I hope PDA doesn't bother you." Kim said as she purposefully walked over to Ron, her arms going around his neck, she brought his lips down to hers. She kissed him with so much tenderness and love, while she was kissing her beloved she sent up a prayer of gratitude and praise to her Almighty God and Savior, that He had sent her this man to walk beside her and protect her and love her. She prayed to Him that if His will be done, to allow her to be with Ronald Michael Stoppable for the rest of her life, to be his wife and to have his children, in God's own time. She asked her Savior who was also born and died and resurrected as a Jew to forgive her for being blinded by good-looks, and intelligence and attributes that really do not matter. Kimberly Ann Possible, the hero who has saved the world, knew sixteen-styles of Chinese martial arts, got the second highest GPA at Middleton High, and became captain of her cheerleading squad as a sophomore, was now totally off the market. Kim Possible hero to millions of people around the world only has one hero, and it was the boy… no the **man** she was kissing right now.

She slowly came back to reality and felt tangible proof that he really liked that kiss, and her own flesh felt the same way. She stepped back, looking at his face, which was in ecstasy. He slowly opened his eyes, and gave her that look that he only gives her sending tingles racing all over her body. Then he slowly grins that goofy grin, she smiles back at him. They gave themselves a little shake before turning back to a blushing, grinning Yori. "Shall we depart and head to our destination?"

* * *

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* * *

To Yamanouchi

As the young adults left the Tokyo airport, they walked to the nearest train station. They chatted amiably, about unimportant trivia, and renewed their relationship by catching up on old friends. Since the attack, Kim's father, Wade, and most of the smartest minds in the world were getting tasked with reverse engineering the alien technology to make it applicable for earth use. Most of the supervillains that Kim and Ron fought, have gone into hiding. The alien bodies were recovered, and their anatomy was surprisingly close to human leading many biologists to hypothesis, that their immense strength and size was most likely due to a slightly stronger gravity on their world, and a denser atmosphere. Nobody except Kim, and Shego, and of course, Yamanouchi knew about Ron's intervention in the invasion. Kim was all for telling the world about it, but Ron was not. They made a deal with Shego and Drakken to let them take most of the credit, if they would keep Ron's name out of it, as more than the distraction/ sidekick.

Kim was angry about it until Ron put it into perspective for her. "Kim, people fear what they don't understand, you got straight A's in history, so I know you understand what I'm talking about. I have told you how my mother's parents were orphaned by the Nazis right?" She nodded, as she remembered how the era of World War II was one of the only areas of history class that Ron ever received an A, until junior and senior year of high school. She always found it disconcerting how the Hebrew people were one of the most persecuted 'races' in history. Kim sometimes wondered if some of the ostracism Ron endured over the years might be do in some small way to Ron being Jewish. She was forever grateful to her family for teaching her and her brothers to only judge people based on their actions, not on where they came from. Ron went on when he saw how she understood how he felt, "All it took was for one man to focus all of the hatred and blame for the plight of the German people on a small percentage of the population. What do you think would happen if people suddenly found out how powerful I can be? Some would accept it and congratulate me, but many would fear me, thinking I was going to hurt them or their family."

The young adults were traveling to the bus stop for the Yamanouchi school, Kim had gotten some sleep on the flight over from the States. Ron had not been able to sleep for the past two nights, as whenever he fell asleep he seemed to be having nightmares. He would use ninja rest techniques to push away the fatigue and function normally, so Kim would not be worried. Kim however had an ally in the form of Rufus, who told her about Ron's current sleep habits, and while she had slept a little on the plane ride over, she had watched Ron discretely, hoping he would fall asleep to the lull of the jet engine. No such luck. While she was worried, she knew her BFBF, better than she knew her family, and she knew that something was not kosher with her man. She also knew that cajoling it out of him was not the way to handle this sitch. Ron had to be allowed to come to terms with it himself. The standard Kim Possible barrel in with gusto approach would probably hurt him more than he was already, and Kim would rather cut off her own arm than hurt him. Hence, she became especially tender with him, letting him know that she cared about, and had absolute faith in him.

On the way to Yamanouchi, Yori filled them in on the programs that Team Possible would be studying while at Yamanouchi. "This will be an extremely intense program for the both of you but in very different ways. Stoppable-san the last time you came here as an exchange-student you were treated as a guest and therefore not subject to the harsh conditions that all Yamanouchi students must endure. You did quite well even able to defeat one of our best students with just a week's worth of training. Sensei has often pondered how accomplished you would be if you had stayed for the rest of your high school career." Kim listened as Yori spoke about Ron's progress when he came here the first time. While at the time she had not been willing to acknowledge her jealousy over Ron, Kim was fully aware of how angry she was that he had not confided in her. Though it was a lie of omission rather than a bold-face one, she had confessed that he had hurt her feelings a little. They had talked about it often, and he had begged her forgiveness, which she granted completely, understanding that it was not so much a lie as a confidence he could not break, and a secret that was not his to share. "You will not be treated as a guest this time," Yori said, "but as a student, they will be quite strict on most things, lenient on others. You and Kim-san will be participating in a program that has not been used since the Russo-Japanese War, when Yamanouchi participated in intelligence gathering and reconnaissance for the Japanese military. During that conflict, Yamanouchi produced fully qualified, and capable ninja in as little as 90 days. You two will be the only ones participating in this program, since most of the students have returned to their homes for the summer break. Therefore, you must share a dorm room." She noticed them blushing at the thought of living together, and smirked, "not to worry my friends there is a dormitory bathroom at each end of the hall so you may designate which either of you will use." _I will try some American-style humor._ "You will not get to display yourselves to each other, unless you truly desire it."

 _Kim, sharing a room with me,_ Ron wondered? Visions of his BFGF danced through his mind. His flesh began to stir…

 _Me and Ron, sharing a room together, almost like we're…_ Kim's imagination took off, as she thought of Ron like that. Well not so much imagination as memory. Having been on quite a few missions together, even before they began dating. They have seen each other in various stages of undress, Kim has seen him drop his pants quite a few times. She was honest with herself now to understand that she enjoyed seeing him in his underwear. It was what helped her gain control of her emotions during the whole moodulator incident, and even regain her memory after Doctor Drakken's shampoo wiped her memory just a few months ago, she admitted to herself that seeing Ron in his boxers did stimulate her body. She casually looked over at her best friend/ boyfriend, and smiled at the goofy grin and knew that he was thinking along the same lines as her. "While I wouldn't mind seeing my incredibly handsome beau in the buff," Kim said, calmly "if the training is as harsh as you say Yori, I think I'll pass on it until we're in college at least."

Ron looked over sheepishly, covering his crotch with his backpack, "I know what you mean KP, we should wait to do that when we're both ready." He quickly got his mind and body under control, before continuing, "And if the training we are about to endure is going to be tougher than my first visit, I highly doubt we'll have the energy for kissing, let alone **other** activities."

Yori's face resumed its calm demeanor as she explained that Ronald's observation was indeed correct, "Sensei has asked me to prepare you by describing some of the training to both of you." She looked at Kimberly, and continued, "Kim-san, you are an excellent fighter, and you have such a natural talent for it that you have reached an advanced level in sixteen styles of Chinese martial arts, a feat that very few people ever achieve with one style. Your cheerleading and gymnastics training have given you exceptional evasion skills." Kim nodded as she listened to the assessment of her battle skills, knowing there was a big but on the way. "However, your martial abilities seem unconnected, as if you see them as mere tools for defeating your foes and not a reflection of yourself." Kim looked confused as she listened, but Yori continued, "When you enter into battle, you are not simply fighting you enemies, you are expressing yourself. You are letting your opponent see who, and what you are. There are a couple aphorisms in karate: Fighting makes you words hit harder; and the toughest opponent you will ever face is yourself."

Kim had listened to Yori's assessment of her abilities, and thought, _what does that mean?_ But it was a rhetorical thought, she understood at least intellectually what her ninja friend was saying. _So, in other words an opponent can know more about me than I know about myself. I must admit I've been on the receiving end of that aphorism myself. Shego told me how Drakken would study me and learn the way I thought, back before that whole junior prom sitch. When he tried to manipulate me by placing a synthodrone who was supposed to be the 'perfect' guy, in my life._ She looked over at Ron, she still felt a pang of guilt over how she treated Ron during that time, and still gave thanks to Heaven that he had forgiven her. _I almost lost the most important person in my life, thanks to that little lapse._ Kim reached over and took her boyfriend's hand in hers, bringing it to her lips. Kim considered his eyes and smiled when he squeezed her hand.

Yori saw the gesture between then and smiled before turning to face Ron. "Ron-san, you must prepare yourself mentally and physically, because to use an American aphorism, 'we are going to run you through the ringer'. You will get almost no rest and none will show you any mercy unless you demonstrate proficiency in every area in which we will to train you." Her gaze was unflinching as she described to Ron how the program worked, "about five years ago, the Yamanouchi invited various military personnel from several special operations groups from around the world to participate in a mini-version of the wartime protocol. These included members of your US Marine Corps, Navy S.E.A. Ls, and Delta Force. Every member to a man informed us that the training they endured from a scaled down version to the wartime protocol was tougher than their own special forces basic training." Yori saw Ron pale as he thought of what was to come, and even Kim looked a little uncertain about what she and her BF were about to go through.

Ron looked at his feet uncertainly, before taking on a look of resolve and determination. "If I'm gonna be KP's partner, and have her back on missions it'll be worth it. The wishy-washy, Ronald Stoppable you knew needs to grow up. I promise you Kim I will make you proud of me." Ron face took on a sad but guilty look. _Then, maybe I will be able to forgive myself for what I did. Sure, they were aliens trying to take over the world, and hurt the one I care about the most, but they were still living creatures, maybe I did not have to kill them. I would do it again, if I had to; maybe this new training will give me better options than kill or be killed._

Kim noticed Ron's expression, which was the only outward indication that something troubled him. "That'll be a neat trick Ronald Stoppable, since I am already proud of you," said Kim. Again, Kim had to fight with herself to keep from prying. She truly did love him with all her heart, which was rather new, but she has always trusted Ron, had faith in him, believed in him. _I really want to help him, I don't know what the ish is but I will not bully and disrespect him into sharing_ Kim thought. _He is in pain that much I know, something is eating at him._ Her heart ached for him, _he has always been there for me, and I'll be damned if I'm going to abandon him now._

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Meeting the Jiros

Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable former teen heroes, now young adult heroes, have faced many challenges over their storied career. Supervillains like Shego and Monkeyfist, Drakken's crazy doomsday devices, Dementor's insane ray weapons, Bonnie Rockwaller's put-downs and the Bullies of D-Hall. But nothing had prepared them for what had happened when they got off that bus. Yori remained on the bus as it drove away, not wishing to see her friends endure such hardship. As soon as the bus left, two ninja dressed in black gi stepped out of the shadows. Both held bamboo practice swords called shinai, one carried a three-pronged shuriken. In a voice dripping with menace he said, "Run or die," just as he threw the throwing weapon with such precision, that it left a scar on Ron's cheek, "that shuriken has been dipped in a neurotoxin, the only antidote is at the top on the mountain. You have one hour to reach the summit before it begins to take effect, now move," he said.

Kim and Ron looked at each other and immediately took off running. The two ninja ran right after them swinging the shinai at their legs. These bamboo swords used primarily for kendo practice, while not lethal were quite painful and left vibrant bruises on the legs of the young heroes. While Ron received the lion's share of thrashing, Kim got a few of her own for good measure. While they felt the urgency of getting to the top they never felt in danger, they immediately recognized the uniform of a Yamanouchi ninja as soon as they appeared. They also noticed that the one who did not speak was a woman, and it was she who gave Kim the hits.

Team Possible has always been quite athletic and even before getting on the football team Ron was surprisingly agile and quick when he had to be. His year of football training increased his endurance quite a bit so the run up the mountain while exhausting was not too bad for him. Yamanouchi mountain was nowhere near the tallest mountain in the world, but it is one of the steepest, almost a sheer cliff with just enough angle to allow most people to walk or run upright or on all fours. While there was still plenty of oxygen, it thinned just enough at the top to aid in your increased endurance, the peak of Mt. Yamanouchi, where the school sits measures exactly 5,280 feet above sea-level.

They reached the top in thirty minutes. The ninja who spoke earlier walked up to them looking at them, getting in their faces. "Not bad for amateurs, pitiful for ninja," he said with contempt, "getting up here in half the time required lets me hope that you won't die from this." He stood up and introduced himself, "My name is Kenichi Jiro, you will call me Sempai, when addressing me, I will call you Kohai, if you do not follow my instruction to the letter I will make your lives a living hell." The ninja removed his hood, as he was saying all of this to reveal a man with a surprisingly gentle face, only his eyes showed a hardness that would make a diamond soft by comparison.

"I am Mei Jiro, his wife, I will oversee the little _girl's_ training and discipline and Kenichi will do the same for the _boy_." The woman removed her own hood, revealing blonde hair in a thick braid, and stared at Kimberly with a glower. To say Mei was stacked would be an understatement, the attributes under her chin were Himalayan while Kimberly's were Andean by comparison. Her eyes were no less hard than her husband's.

Kim's face remained impassive, but she was seething on the inside. "Excuse me, Sempai but what about the antidote for Ron?"

They looked down at her then burst out laughing. They looked at her and fell over themselves unable to contain their mirth. She looked at Ron, who looked back at her perplexed at their mirth. Ron then realized why they were laughing, because while he still felt the scratch on his cheek he did not feel any different. Suddenly he began to laugh with them. Kim looked at him in astonishment, "Ron why are you laughing this is serious, they gave you a neurotoxin?"

"No, they didn't KP they just gave me a little scratch on the cheek and said it was a drug," he said looking in her eyes. "This is Yamanouchi, Kim one of the few places on this Earth where I feel safe, another being at your side." He eyed the pair just regaining their composure, "You were trying to motivate us to test our resolve to be here weren't you Sempai?"

Kim realizing the trick flushed crimson as she realized she had been played. "It is good to see you again Possible-san," said a deep- blooming voice to her right, "and you as well Stoppable-san, welcome back to Yamanouchi." Kim and Ron turned and bowed deeply to a man they both revered, Master Sensei head of the Yamanouchi school and the man who started Ron down the path to Yamanouchi, the first place he was ever appreciated, for which Kim would be eternally grateful. She believed that if Ron had never come to Yamanouchi he would never have been able to access the mystical monkey power, and Earth would belong to Warhok and Warmonga.

Ron replied in Japanese then English, "It is our honor to return to Yamanouchi, Sensei. 'Yamanouchi sensei ni kaeru no wa watashitachi no meiyodesu'"

Sensei returned the bowed and the addressed Kenichi and Mei, "I would speak to our new students in private my friends, there is still much I must explain to them before too much happens."

The sempai bowed, saying, "As you wish, Sensei-sama." They replied in unison before walking away.

Sensei turn and walked further into the school and sat down on a bench, indicating the ground in front of him for them to sit. Yori had taught them the courtesies and protocols as they rode the bus, so they knew what was expected of them while here in the school, Kim and Ron sat they waited for Sensei to speak,

"I am aware that Yori-san has shared with of you, the kind of training program we have devised for you," Sensei began. They both nodded in confirmation. "Very good, now I shall share with you a more detailed explanation." He looked at Ron, "Stoppable-san the last time you were here, as a student we treated you as a guest, and never took you to task for any of your lapses in judgement. We were pleased at how even with so little training you were able to fight and defeat one of our more skilled students, Fukushima." Sensei received a nod from Ron to continue as he understood. "This time will be different since you are now a student for the next 90 days, we will hold you to the same standards we hold the rest of our students. Two days ago, you thwarted an alien invasion that would have decimated our planet, by consciously activating the mystical monkey power given to you by the monkey idols. That made you the Ultimate Monkey Master, when you did that all other mystical monkey power hosts had their powers removed. Monkeyfist and Rufus-san are no longer monkey power hosts. You are now the only person alive who can wield the Lotus Blade."

Ron listened to the older man, with his serious face, he took in the information Sensei-sama was telling him sorting through it all trying to make sense of his words. The asked, "What is mystical monkey power, Sensei-sama? Why is it so important?"

Sensei smiled a little as he began to explain, "Mystical Monkey Power is not really a power or energy. It is actually the spirit of an interdimensional entity that has appeared at times in history to aid and protect the greatest heroes of that era." Sensei looked at Kim pointedly, Kim looked away blushing, but accepting Sensei's praise modestly. Ron gave Kim a grin, the one he only reserved for Kim, _I always knew I was meant to protect KP._ Kim even returned it with one of her own. _Ron was put on this earth to protect me, even without mystical monkey powers he has saved my life numerous times._ "This entity has had many names given by its contemporaries at the time the most well-known of which is Hanuman, Sun Wukong, also known as the Handsome Monkey King or the Sage Equal to Heaven. In addition to the colossal strength displayed on your graduation day which must be called forth, you will find that your mind is clearer able to gasp concepts more easily, you may converse with the beasts 'lower' lifeforms, you have an instinctual grasp of not only Da Sheng Piqua, but Hou Quan, and a type Muay Thai called Muay Boran."

Ron raised his hand asking, "Sensei-sama," permission to speak, "So I am like a really strong, really smart Monkey Fist?"

Sensei shook his head, "No, you are still Ron Stoppable, of Middleton, Colorado, the entity only gives you power and potential skills. The motivations and morality are yours and you still must learn to use them properly. If you train hard and overcome your laziness you will even surpass me someday. We can give you training and instruction it is in your hands how you use it."

Ron kept his face impassive, as he contemplated the wise old man's words. "Understood Sensei-sama I have the potential for greatness but still need to put in the effort and hard work." Ron then turned to Kim with the grin he only ever her that made her heart beat faster, "I really am your potential boy now, KP."

Kim's smile was also the one she only gave him, "I never doubted it for a moment, Ronnie."

Sensei continued, "Now I will give you a syllabus of the training you will undergo. First you may only have an instinctive grasp of Da Sheng Pi Gua, and other monkey based form of Chinese martial arts like Hou Quan, and even a style of MuayThai known as Hanuman. The training regimen for the next 90 days is designed to bring the instinctual to the conscious to the skilled. You will also get in depth weapons training, as the master of the Lotus Blade it behooves you to be as familiar with as many weapons as possible." Sensei looked at both, and added, "Both of you will be taught survival, evasion and stealth techniques, and will each endure the same physical conditioning exercises."

Sensei looked at Kimberly and explained the training that was in store for her. "Possible-san you are a gifted fighter and show an almost inhuman mastery of you own body, yet as well as you fight you could be better. You have all but mastered sixteen styles of Chinese martial arts, but you seem to have focused solely on the physical aspects of these arts at the expense of the mental and spiritual. We will return you to the foundations of these arts and train you in meditation and qi gong techniques, and aid you in developing a style that is no style, but is your style."

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Fortnight

For the first couple of weeks one thing became self-evident, supervillains had nothing on the Jiros when it came to torture and humiliation. Ron and Kim seemed to remember a few Knowing channel documentaries about special forces training including: BUD/S, Green Berets, Ranger school, etc., etc. They both came to realize that watching such training, and living it were not the same thing. Most nights when they could go to bed after showers, they barely had the energy to walk let alone the **other** activities Yori teased them about on the bus. But they were determined to not only survive the training but to excel, nevertheless they never went to sleep without giving each other kissing action, and they never parted way for individual training without saying "I love you" in their own special ways.

Every morning at three the Jiros would rack out the young adult heroes in the most inconvenient ways imaginable, whether it was coming in banging on metal trash can lids or sneaking in quietly and smacking their charges with the shinai. Always followed by, "If I had been an enemy, both of you would be dead." This exercise taught them to be aware of their surroundings even while asleep. Kenichi always woke up Ron and Mae, Kim with the shinai. Sometimes Mae would wake up both by herself, but Kenichi never hit Kim. Rest of the day was filled with the training, mentioned by Sensei that first day. They would wake up well before dawn and after warm-ups, were made to run up and down the mountain, never the same amount of times but never less than ten times. Sometimes they were required to wear weights on limbs and torso, on others they carried pails of water, and woe be to both if either spilled a so much as a drop. There was never any kind of pattern to the curriculum, because the Jiros believed patterns led to complacency. The only thing that was the same is that whenever these exercises took place Ron and Kim were always together. This helped motivate each of them, Kim and Ron wanted the other to be proud of them so they always did the very best they could and it helped improve both of their physiques.

Kim who was always in great shape, got more muscle tone without losing any femininity and even lost the last of her baby fat. She kept enough fat to keep her curves in great shape and to keep warm in winter. Ron noticed, not that he ever had any complaints before, about her body, but he approved of the change. She began developing, pronounced yet still quite feminine six-pack abs, her limbs became firm and supple. Kim's torso developed enough muscle to give her strength, but kept her lean enough to aid in speed.

Ron was not the only one to approve of the changes in his partner/best friend. The change in Ron's body which had begun last year during football season, also attracted Kim's interest. She would notice the development of his leg muscles as they ran together. _It's getting a little hard to concentrate on my own performance, with my BF becoming such a hunk right before my eyes._ Then when he did pushups, pullups and chin-ups, always with weights, she would notice his arms which were showing some well-developed biceps, forearms, and broader shoulders. He also lost significant amounts of body fat and he slowly increased in endurance and flexibility. _Of course, he was always handsome to me since we started dating, but I may have to beat the other girls off with a stick when we get to college._

After their morning torture/ conditioning session and after breakfast. Every aspect of the training was geared toward their body and mind cohesion, this included breakfast and lunch. There were six sushi rolls on a tray, Kim and Ron each held a pair of chopsticks, the object was to train their reflexes by snatching the sushi rolls from the tray before, Shinobi Lunch Lady could move it out of the way. For two weeks, the couple never got any breakfast or lunch, -which contributed to their fat loss- just a light dinner consisting of rice and vegetable stew mostly. Kim of course was the first, get a sushi roll from the lunch lady, and while she had never really liked the idea of raw fish, the triumph and her hunger made it taste like the greatest meal ever. _I guess the old saying is true, 'hunger is the best sauce'._ Ron did not get his breakfast or lunch for another week, and Kim was not allowed to help her boyfriend. The one time she tried the Jiros came down on her hard, by making her do squats for an hour holding a pair of water buckets.

Mae whispering in her ear, "Somethings you have to let him pass or fail on his own," she said, "if you keep doing it for him he will not learn and grow. You have faith in him do you not?"

Kim's eyes took on a fierce cast, and said, "Yes, Mae-sempai, I have absolute faith in him, second only to my faith in Heaven." She felt ashamed of herself for her actions. "I just did not wish to see him suffer, simply wanted him to get some nourishment."

Mae looked offended at Kim's statement, "Do you really think Ken-kun and I would allow him to starve? As harsh as we are toward you, our priority is your health. For that insult you owe me and Ken-kun another hour of squats, each." Kim accepted this punishment without utterance, more to punish herself for her lack of faith in Ron than for their Sempai.

The most difficult training they had to endure for the entire 90 days was the unrelenting martial arts training. It was the one part of the day that they were not together. Kim and Ron had different needs and therefore needed to train separately. Kim was made to practice all her forms and was taught qi gong techniques, including iron body training. She was trained in meditation and visualization, and even technique training to retrain her body to perform that way her martial arts instructors wanted it. Ron was the forms of Da Sheng Piqua, Hou Quan and trained in Muay Boran. Ron's instructors made him practice his techniques by making him strike a stone tower six-inches in circumference a thousand times a day.

Surprisingly, it was their survival, evasion and stealth or S.E.S. training that afforded them the most time for romance. The Jiros would give them class room instruction concerning various aspects of the three subjects they studied together. Then on weekends, would take the young heroes to various parts of the mountain range and make them find their way back. They usually had from twenty-four to thirty-six hours to return. These exercises were nothing new to Team Possible's field operatives, they were often being dropped into hostile territory and forced to find their way out. The only real difference is they did not have the Kimmunicator to aid them with GPS coordinates, at Yamanouchi they were rarely given a compass and a map. They were never late getting back, indeed in the beginning they only ever made it just in time. For the first two weeks, they only made it back just in time, and would go right in to training as if it were a week day, "If you want time to rest then get here sooner," the Jiros would say. Eventually, they began reducing the amount of time it took to reach the school by almost six or eight hours. They started taking advantage of their situation and would take quite a few breaks to make sure the other was in good condition.

For the first two weeks Ron began to improve less and less, and even began backsliding a little. The ninja rest techniques taught during the exchange program are great for short term use when sleep is not an option, but they were never meant to be used for such duration. They only clear the mind of fatigue they do nothing for the repair of the body like sleep is meant to be used for. It was during the time of their second S.E.S weekend trip that Ron started to talk about his actions on graduation day. Kim only listened for the most part. She understood Ron Stoppable better than anybody in the world, even better than his own parents. He loved peace, and hated violence. He told her about the dreams he had been having, about killing the aliens, and then have her turn against him calling him a murderer. Which was bad enough, but the worst dreams, were the ones where he failed to save her. "I listened to Warhok and Warmonga, bartering for your spine KP." Ron shuddered, and pulled Kim closer, she laid her head on his chest and listened as he spoke. "I failed to stop them, then the image would shift and on a wall somewhere in their spaceship I would see a skull with a spinal column I don't know how I knew but I knew it was yours. They decorated it with a wig made from your hair, and your eyes were actual emeralds." He held her closer as tears started to leak out of his eyes. She sat up and held him in her arms as he started softly crying. _What a gentle man,_ Kim thought, _he's been feeling so ashamed about what he had to do, then the dreams about me if he had not been able to save me._ Kim sent up a prayer to her savior to give Ron Stoppable peace from his guilt.

Kim looked down at Ron and stroked his hair and face, making shushing sounds letting him know that she was here. "Ron Stoppable you are my hero. I saw you running toward Warhok, I wanted to stop you. You mean more to me than the entire world. Shego and I could barely scratch Warhok, and Warmonga nearly killed me the first time I fought her, even with the battle suit. When I saw, you running at Warhok I thought for sure I was about to watch the most important person in my life be slaughtered right in front of me. Then I saw what you did and how you fought, you were amazing," Kim said with a giggle.

Ron looked dumbfounded, as his girlfriend, Kim Possible, hero to millions tell him that her hero was… _Me?_ "It really wasn't me KP, it was my Mystical Monkey Power, it was Hanuman."

Kim placed her finger over his lips, shaking her head she replied, "while I don't know as much about Hanuman as you or Sensei, I have listened to the two of you talk about it. From your discussions with Sensei-sama, I have learned that Hanuman can't act in this dimension directly. It must have a host and while it bestows incredible gifts to its host, it cannot subvert the will of its host. Therefore, Ron Stoppable," she said, sounding like a lecturing professor, "While Hanuman gave you the power to destroy the aliens, it was your freewill that called forth the power."

"But I killed them KP, they were aliens but they were still living beings," he said, covering his eyes with his hands. _That's it!_ Ron felt a small hand give him a full force slap to his face.

Kim was angry now, she looked at her boyfriend whom she loved more than life itself, cup his cheek more out of surprise than anything, picked him up and slammed him against the cave wall. Not hard enough to hurt but enough to get his attention. "I am tired of hearing you feel sorry for yourself, Ron" her voice trembled. _I can't believe I hit him._ "Yes, killing for the sake of killing or for selfish reasons is wrong its murder, killing to protect yourself, the ones you love, or to protect the world is self-defense." Her voice got smaller as she continued, "Ever since we started going on missions I have strived to plan strategies to find solutions that would defeat the bad guys with minimal violence, and to prevent killing. I thank God every day that he has allowed me to complete our missions without killing anyone." She looked in his chocolate-brown eyes, which were taking in her every word. "I will confess something to you that I have only confessed to my pastor. If circumstance ever occurred that I must end the life of someone who is about to do something that may cost the life of even one person, I will do it. I will kill to protect a life, whether my own, or yours or even one of my arch-foes. That is the hard truth about this life we lead Ron. You and I may die on any mission, there are no guarantees in our line of work." She shuddered because what she was about to say could break her heart. "If… if that is too much for you, you may leave, and go back to Middleton, marry a nice Jewish girl and settle down…"

Suddenly Ron looked at her, "KP, there is one part of my story that I didn't tell you." He raised his hand to caress her cheek, which she leaned into relishing his touch. "I would do it again," he said with such strong resolve, "That what I have been afraid to tell you since we got here, if given the choice between choosing their lives over yours or any other life indigenous to this planet I would do it again. All lives matter, KP not all lives matter equally." Ron put his arms around her picking her up so he could look in her eyes (he had grown an inch and was taller than Kim), he leaned in and kissed her fiercely yet tenderly, a kiss that curled her toes.

Kim reveled in the touch of his lips as he kissed her. _God I love his lips, and his tongue makes it very hard to remember my promise to God about waiting for marriage._ Then he pulled back his hand smacked her on her butt hard, causing her to squeal in surprise, not pain. "That's for slapping me," he said with a serious face. Then he smacked her ass again a little harder, making her squeal again. "That's for slamming me into the wall, that really hurt KP." Then he kissed her again before setting her down.

Kim looked at Ron while she rubbed her ass where he had spanked her. Kimberly was not angry, she was more surprised, not by the spanking, but how she felt about his spanking. Kim was no stranger to corporal punishment, except as a child, the two times she had been spanked as a teenager were on Halloween of her sophomore year when she lied to Ron and her parents. The other time was last year after she went overboard with her father's credit card. James T. Possible, her father, a man she also loved and knew loved her, a man who while pretty laid back, had taught his daughter about right and wrong, about integrity and responsibility. Kimberly's moral compass, had always pointed straight to her father. Now, she realized that there were two needles, one that still pointed at her father, and another pointed at the blonde-haired boy in front of her. Ron seemed to have very similar personality to her father, and one of the characteristics that they both share is an uncompromising moral code. Ron Stoppable may be not be as book smart as Kim, or as athletic as some boys his age _at least not before come here_ , but one thing he had in spades, is loyalty, courage and a willingness to risk all for a friend. _The last two weeks of martial arts training have certainly given Ron a more powerful arm,_ she mused. _Wow, who would have thought that I view Ron Stoppable as my moral compass. He's never hit me before, but then I have never hit him before. Except playfully, of course._ "Just don't make it a habit, Stoppable."

Ron gave her an uncertain smile, "I hated doing that KP, I hope you know I didn't do it to hurt you…"

"Ronnie," she said in her sexy voice, "do you see me walking away, I know you pretty well," she said, leaning into him, while threading her arms over his neck, "and I know you're not the abusive type, if you were you'd be picking your balls up off the floor right now." Kim leaned in to give him a sultry lip lock, "I deserved it and I accept your correction of me when I go too far. And, I did go too far by slapping you and pushing you against the wall."

"So, we're good," Ron asked, relieved, "you still love me, trust me?"

She nodded, "Totally, to stop loving you Ron, would be like stopping my heart from beating." Ron suddenly did not have the strength to stand, he fell to his knees, "RON" and Kim caught him before he could fall on his face. Kim looked at him and realized he had fallen asleep, he had not slept in two weeks. Kim turned him over and lay him on her lap. Ron Stoppable slept like a contented baby that night while Kim Possible sat, kneeling with her legs tucked under, Ron's head in her lap, stroking his hair. She stood watch. Kim Possible could do anything, even keep bad dreams away from her boyfriend, a boyfriend that she loved with all her heart.

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Getting Strong Now

When Team Possible made it back to the school the Monday of their third week, not much changed the first couple of days. However, after sleeping for a couple of nights, and allowing his body and mind to rest, Ron Stoppable began to show improvement, and it began at meal time.

While Ron had been missing the tray, for the first fortnight, he had also studied Shinobi Lunch Lady as she moved, even how KP moved when she got her food. He noticed that while Lunch Lady moved quite fast there was a predictability to her movements. Not so much a pattern as the fact that there are only so many ways you can move a tray of food without spilling it. Hence on Saturday after their morning workout Ron met the Shinobi Lunch Lady in battle, with two pairs of chopsticks. Kim had already gotten her three sushi rolls and was sitting to the side. Ron approached SLL, he had on his serious face, but bowed to the elderly lady in solemn respect. Ron brandished one of his weapons in plain sight while keeping his secondary weapon concealed. Shinobi Lunch Lady was not fooled, a true kunoichi (A/N: female ninja) sees not with her eyes which may be clouded, but with a clear mind. They narrowed their eyes at each other as and wait for the first to movement and the other to defend. _He will use the main weapon in a feint and bring his secondary weapon in for the execution._ Ron moved the main weapon around making exaggerated movements to throw her off, yet 75% of Shinobi Lunch Lady's attention was on the concealed weapon. Thus, she was caught completely by surprise when he struck like lightning with the main chopstick, she moved but it was too late, she cursed as she watched the young man devour his first prize.

Shinobi Lunch Lady nimbler than her age implied jumped back into a defensive stance. Ron now brought the other weapon into view, his face still serious and determined, he knew not to get complacent or cocky. _She now knows I'm crafty, she'll be warier of me now. Well, if you can't be sneaky, be bold._ He lunged directly for the old woman, she waited until the last moment before bounding to the side. He followed her movements aping them perfectly, but on the last landing he took a little hop which totally faked out the Lunch Lady. She executed a jumping pirouette landing on her toes, but when she looked for her enemy he was not where she anticipated. Ron had given the hop, then dove into a low somersault and rolling on his back to the Lunch Lady's position before snap kicking to a standing position where the tray now behind her, and directly in front of Ron who with another lightning quick grab took the last two pieces of raw fish. He popped them both into his mouth, and chewed thoroughly before swallowing. The stunned Shinobi Lunch Lady regained her composure quickly, and turned and bowed to her adversary, Ron followed suit without gloating or crowing. Shinobi Lunch Lady left the field going back into the kitchen.

Kim squealed in delight as her man out foxed the Lunch Lady. Not surprised in the least she remembered how Ron had outwitted his former camp buddy Gil, now changed to Gill, a mutant muck monster. By turning the amphibious boy's greatest strength against him, Kim had never been more proud of her best friend. She recollected that was when she started seeing him in a different light, when her feelings for him started to change. _Oh Ronnie, I love you._ Kim walked over to her beloved and after bowing to his defeated opponent, enveloped him in a hug. "Hey, KP, how'd you like my bon-diggity dance move," he said in her ear.

"Spankin" She very much wanted to kiss him, but there were strict rules about such things at Yamanouchi, PDA was strictly prohibited. "I can't wait to get you to our room, and show you some of my moves," she said in silky, sultry voice. She would wait and congratulate him properly in their room later tonight. After that as Ron and Kim's reflexes and strategic thinking increased they never failed to acquire their food and thus their performances improved in other more important subjects at the school.

After their little talk, and Ron began getting more rest. Kim and Ron started making great strides in their training. Ron mastered the forms of Da Sheng Pi Gua, Hou Quan, in no time as well as the qi gong and Muay Boran conditioning exercises. He began carving little indentations into the stone tower, as his striking power increased. It was during those first two weeks that Ron and Kim had their little talk about the aliens and for the first time in two weeks Ron could sleep through the night. After that he began to show marked improvement in his training, at times even able to best his instructors. He began weapons training on the third week, swords, spears, flexible weapons like chain whips and kusarigama, he became proficient with all of them. The one weapon he seemed to become the most proficient in, almost overnight was the staff. It was like he was born to use a staff, because even the masters who trained him were quickly left in the dust. Men and women who have studied the staff for years were hard pressed to fight him off. From rokkubo, to hanbo, rat tail staffs to eight trigrams staffs Ron Stoppable was truly unstoppable.

Kim Possible had similar issues with her training for the first two weeks. She knew that it was her worries over Ron that distracted her from relearning her martial arts. She was taken back to the foundations of all 16 styles of Chinese martial arts. They made her relearn the forms as they were supposed to be learned. Instead of going from movement to movement they made her concentrate on the transitions from one movement to the next. They kept telling her to move like water, which totally went over her head. Patience has never been Kim's strength, she liked to make progress and keep going, and became frustrated by her inability to make immediate progress. Ironically it was Ron who got her to understand the meaning of her trainers' words.

"Imagine a river, KP," he said as he lay snuggled with Kim on his chest, "you are the water that must flow from the high mountains to the sea. The style is the river bank, the confines in which the water may travel. When the water reaches a turn, it makes the turn without slowing, it continues without stopping."

Kim was listening as her BF got metaphorical, _he's starting to sound like Sensei-sama_. _It's kind of cute and his ability to grasp intellectual concepts is quite the turn on._ In addition to retraining her physically, they began to teach her the art of meditation. They kept telling her that if she mastered the art she would overcome her greatest enemy. At first Kim was resistant to meditation, _how is sitting on the floor going help me fight Shego,_ Kim wondered? She was reluctant because she thought of it as a heretical religious practice, until one of her instructors who was a devout Christian himself, explained it in another way. "When we pray to God we are the instigators of the conversation we are talking to God, I think of meditation as a means of listening for God's voice." _That doesn't sound like a bad way to put it at all,_ Kim mused. Kim saw that after using the qi gong exercises her movements became more efficient, and less prone to wasted motion. Her trainers assured Kim that after she left Yamanouchi she could incorporate her qi gong techniques with her cheerleading and gymnastics movements. The combination would allow Kim to do the impossible. It would allow her to fuse her sixteen styles of Chinese martial arts, into one style they called Kim style. Kim still did not understand what that little phrase meant, and she would talk about it with Ron because she was really starting to value his opinion on matters pertaining to many things. _Ron is really impressing me lately, with his insights I have made great strides in my training. His analogy with the river helped me last week._ Kim had no need to be impressed by Ron of course, her love for him knew no bounds short of her love for God and His Son. Even if the aliens had never come and he had never awakened his Mystical Monkey Power, she already loved him, trusted him and respected him. _The increased wisdom and monkey power are merely icing upon an already delicious cake._

After the sixth week, the Jiros began making them spar against each other. Forms practice, qi gong exercises merely teach the student how to train their bodies for movement. Sparring gives the student some light combat experience, and it lets them figure out which techniques work best all the time. At first, they were reluctant to go all out on each other, Kim especially did not want to have Ron as an opponent. Ron at least was skittish about hitting girls, let alone his girlfriend. Again, the Jiros talked to them while giving punitive exercises.

"Don't you want to be an equal partner to Kim when she is on missions," Kenichi-sempai asked Ron?

"Yes, I do sempai, I don't ever want KP to feel she's fighting alone," Ron said while doing fist pushups.

"Then, you must show her that you can handle yourself, and sparring is the best way to show her you can be her equal," Kenichi whispered, "Possible-san fears facing you because she thinks she could hurt you. You are not trying to defeat her or beat her up, you are showing her that her trust is not misplaced. Is her trust in you, misguided, buffoon?"

"NO"

Kim was on the other side of the courtyard from Ron doing phoenix eye pushups, with Mae-san.

"And, I thought you had faith in the one you love, where is your faith, your respect," Mae asked Kim, in a sneering voice?

"But if I spar the way I liked I may hurt him," Kim said, "I have complete faith in him, but he has only trained in martial arts for six weeks, I have been training since I was three."

"As you would say, 'Overconfident much?'", Mae-sempai said with condescension.

Kim burned with anger at her tone, but the last six weeks had taught her to control her temper. Mae leaned down, and looked at her pupil, "Did Stoppable-san not tell you what happened the first time he was here."

Kim nodded, "He told me how he protected the Lotus Blade, and fought one of our enemies called Monkey Fist."

"Did he also tell you how he defeated one of our top students, with only a week's worth of training, little girl," Mae-asked. "Fukushima was one of our best ninja, and he had lived in Yamanouchi his whole life, training constantly, only Yori-san, and Hirotaka-chan were considered more skilled. I was at the battle, Stoppable-san made Fukushima look like a novice."

 _Ron only told me a little about Fukushima,_ Kim thought. _If that was only what training for a week could do I wonder what six weeks' worth of hard training can do? He might even be better than me._ The notion the Ron could be as good or better at something than Kim once would have shocked and even annoyed Kim. Now however she was filled with curiosity, and enthusiasm about finding an opponent, equal to her who did not want to kill her. _What makes the sitch even better, it's with the man I love, which means we can push each other, make each other better. It also means I can share every part of who I am with him. Fighting is a very intimate activity, I probably know quite a bit about Shego, probably stuff she doesn't even know._ Kim finished her pushups and stood up looking at Ron as he looked at her.

Approached the center of the courtyard, they had a gleam in their eyes that was a challenge but without animosity. They moved into fighting stance, and sprang into action…

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Confessions

Ron Stoppable lay on his stomach as the beautiful woman massaged his back. It was the eleventh week since they began training at the Yamanouchi. Kim was sitting in her nightshirt and pajama bottoms, while straddling Ron who was wearing just his boxers. He had just given Kim an excellent massage and Kim always gave as good as she got. They had lived in the same room for the entire time, and were never closer. They had seen each other in various stages of undress, from a little skin to completely naked. While their bodies totally turned each other on, they were disciplined enough to control these sexual impulses. _Not that it mattered what his body was like before,_ Kim mused as she massaged her boyfriend's back muscles, _since we've been dating I have imagined him in plenty of lustful situations with me. I never felt that way about any of my previous crushes like Josh Mankey, or even Eric901._

Their physical conditioning exercises had turned them from lumps of clay into warriors. Ron's muscles were quite prominent, and well defined. Kim was not ashamed to say that seeing his body made her body heat up. Ron was stronger than he had ever been and felt better about himself than he had in his entire life. Kim's body had blossomed during the last 77 days of nonstop physical torture cleverly disguised as exercise. While not supermodel thin since that was not healthy, Kim's body had impressive muscle tone, firm in most areas of her body, soft in the places she _and Ron_ liked. Kim had no trouble telling how Ron felt about her body, because his own body betrayed him. _Hmm, I guess big hands do indicate the size of a certain male body part,_ Kim thought.

Their survival, evasion and stealth (S.E.S) training was the training they liked the most because it gave them time to truly be alone together. By now they knew the Yamanouchi mountains quite well. They knew where the best place to find food and water. Where shelter could be found, from a cave to a small forest brimming with coniferous trees. They always took rations with them but rarely used them, as they learned to hunt and trap. Yes, the Yamanouchi mountains became a second home to our young adult heroes. It was also the place where they deepened their relationship, if that was possible. While they came to Japan with an already awesome love for each other, their time spent here made it blossom.

During their S.E.S., once their needs were met they would talk about the past, where they were now, and their hopes for the future. They talked about things they were afraid to talk about before. Ron told her how angry he had been when he found out she went on a date with Josh Mankey when she was in danger of being embarrassed from existence. He even admitted that he was jealous over all her crushes, but how he only wanted to see her happy even if it was not with him. Kim admitted that even before they began dating she get jealous if he hung out with other girls besides herself. "You were always a better friend to me than I was to you, Ron," she said in a low voice. "I am ashamed of myself for how I always took advantage of your loyalty, and trust, and never returned nearly as much to you."

"Aw, KP," Ron said as he stroked her hair, "It's okay, I have always forgiven you for such things."

"Why do you have to be so noble all the time, Ron," she said leaning up, tucking her legs beneath her? "Ron I know you think that if you yell at me that I'll leave you," she said caressing his cheek, "but you should know me better than that. You don't have to walk around on egg shells with me, Ronnie. God knows I am not perfect, and I'm no longer going to try to be. I need someone willing to put me in my place when I step out of line."

Ron looked at her and let out a breath, he never dropped his gaze from her, he wanted to see if what he was about to tell her would alter what she just said. "For the longest time KP you were the only human friend I had," he said with a haunted, lonely expression. "When you have so few friends you want to do everything you can to keep them, even if you have to let them walk all over you. The reason I can forgive you for some of the pettiness you visited upon me is because I can forgive myself for allowing it." He leaned forward and kissed her slowly, "If I can't forgive you Kim than I can't be in love with you," he said as he leans and continues in a whisper, "and I am so in love with you it hurts, in a good way. Whatever happened in the past I've forgiven you for, and that means it never happened as far as I am concerned. You're also right about one another thing, you are not perfect, Kimberly Ann Possible, you are however perfect for me."

Martial arts training was now quite fun, even sparring had become something they quite enjoyed. Kim had watched Ron practicing one of his forms one afternoon, when she had a rare break from her training. He was totally focused on what he was doing, he was not moving as much as he was flowing from the beginning to the end of the form. _Ron really is moving like water, in a river bed. He is moving from his high place to the sea,_ Kim thought in wonder. When it came to sparring Kim and Ron were equal in skill. Both used their knowledge of each other to develop strategies for victory, during the nights they would divulge how they came up with the strategies so they would not fall for them again.

While they were equally matched with empty hand fighting, the same could not be said for weapons training. Kim and Ron became proficient with all the weapons, they even practiced sparring full speed with nearly all the weapons. There was one weapon that they were not equal in, that weapon was the staff weapons. Ronald Michael Stoppable was invincible when he held any staff weapon in his hands. He was so proficient that Sensei had to call in an old friend of his from Philippines a member of the Cañete family, to train Ron in escrima techniques. Ron took to it like a duck to water and before long he was even equal in skill to his instructor.

Kim was amazed at his skill, and Kim being Kim she began to resent that Ron could be so much better at something than she could. One of Kim's biggest weaknesses is her pride and competitive spirit, and fourteen years of being better at something than anybody else, especially Ron was a difficult view to shake. She was happy that he was equal to her in empty hand, that his S.E.S was equal to hers, and she liked how his body looked since coming here. _There's no way he could be better at staff weapons than me I mean its Ron._ Yet despite her views on the matter, every time she faced Ron to spar with a staff, no matter what other weapon she held it always ended the same way. Either with a disarm or a knockdown, what made matters worse was whenever he won, he did not gloat. He was humble about his skill, and this was a guy who would gloat over winning a nacho eating contest. Kim however was never one to hide her displeasure if something was bothering her. So, for last two weeks she was very curt and short tempered with Ron. She would barely speak to him without biting his head off, and when they went to bed she would barely give him a peck on the cheek let alone the lips.

If there is one person Ron knows better than anybody it's his KP. He knew the reason why she was treating him so badly was because Kim had to be better at everything than him. If this had been a few weeks ago, before their talk about putting her in her place he would have just let it go and not said anything about it. However, if this continued it might cause irreparable damage to their relationship. He was sitting up on his tatami mat when she came in for bed. She came over to kiss him the way she had kissed him for the last week and a half. As she came in for the kiss he leaned back, and put his hand on her shoulder and pushed her away. To say Kim Possible was surprised would be like saying the moon was a big rock.

"Don't do me any favors, Kimberly Ann," he said sarcastically.

That was like punch in the face. She could count on one hand the numbers of times he used her first and middle names, and it was usually when he was mad at her. "What's the matter, Ronald?"

"If you're going to kiss me I'd rather you do it out of love," Ron said evenly.

"What are you talking about Ron, of course I've been kissing you out of love," Kim growled.

"You could've fooled me, Kimberly Ann," Ron replied coolly. "you've been treating me like something you wanna wipe off your shoe, after stepping in it."

Every time Ron called her 'Kimberly Ann' she felt like she was dying inside. Ron is the only person in the world who can say KP without meeting her fists, because to her when he says KP he is really saying 'I love you'. _He called me Kimberly Ann twice, which means not only is he angry at me, he's scared, and hurt._ "I just haven't been in a good mood lately, Ron that's all."

"Kimberly, you remember who your talking to right," he asked? "I have been your best friend since Pre-K, I've seen you in all of your moods," he blushed a little before going on, "I even know when you're PMSing, and we've already passed that time of the month for you." Kim blushed, like a stop light at the PMSing part. _At least, I'm back to Kimberly with him._ "Now I want you to act like an adult for once and tell me why you're mad at me," Ron asked, almost pleading.

The moment was pregnant with tension as both stared in each other's eyes, not knowing what the next utterance might bring. Kimberly could not bring herself to say as she went over the last few weeks of seeing Ron's staff work. She remembered how she felt when she first saw him wielding it like he was destined to be a staff wielder. She felt proud of him for his accomplishments, and somehow sad, sad that… _he did not need me to fight for him anymore._

Kim suddenly fell to her knees, and felt tears welling up from her eyes. She began to sob with her hands over her eyes. _Possible you are so shallow, and self-centered and egotistical. You wanted to keep him in awe of you so he wouldn't leave you behind._ Ron was there in an instant gathering her in his arms, and she clutched at him as if her life depended upon it."KP, I'm here, I'll always be here." As she cried Kim Possible, hero and role model to millions, confessed her flaws to the man she loved and prayed to God that he would still love her. She had not been angry with him, but at herself and Yamanouchi making him better than her at freak-fighting. She apologized and apologized for the way she had been treating him all week. She told him how she liked it when he was in awe of her because it made her feel secure enough that he would not dump her for someone else. She told him how that made her feel shallow and self-centered, and unworthy of his love. Through it all Ron Stoppable listened and did not judge, he silently forgave her for her flaws, she would not even have to ask. He forgave her for the treatment without a thought, "I forgive you, KP, for this last two weeks." That was all he said he just held her until she cried herself to sleep. He picked her up and carried her to her bed, and lay her down pulling the covers up to her chin. He pulled his tatami mat over next to hers and lay down as close as he could and watched her as she slept.

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Declarations

The early morning sun peeked in through the window and illumined the face of the sleeping heroine. She bolted upright and looked around the room she looked over at Ron's normal sleeping area. Not seeing him there she started to cry thinking that her worst nightmare had come true. He suddenly sat up next to her, causing her to shriek softly, then she flung her arms around him. She pulled him close to her, luxuriating in the warmth of his body, she smelled his hair. Then pulling back and engulfing his mouth with her own. Stunned at first, Stoppable's now more powerful arms surrounded Kim Possible, and he returned the kiss as passionate as hers. They pulled apart looking in each other's eyes. "That was to make up for all the terrible kisses I've been giving you for the past two weeks," said an intense Kim Possible, "you deserve so much better from your GF who happens to love you more than anyone in the world."

"Back at you, KP," he said grinning, "and while I'm all about being kissed like that any time, I can do without the reason for the kiss. How are you feeling this morning?"

"I couldn't agree more Ronnie," she said apprehensive about how he thought of her now.

Ron put his hand on her arm and looked her in the eye, "Serious face, Ron for a moment KP. Thank you for telling me what's been eating at you for the last couple of weeks." He slid his hand up her arm, causing her heart to flutter a little, he placed his hand on her cheek. "It's nice to know that I'm not the only insecure one in this relationship."

"Ron, how can you even look at me after, what I told you last night," Kim asked? Every time Ron calls her KP, Kim's apprehension eases a little.

"Duh, KP," he said as if it was simpler than 2 and 2 equaling 4, "because after all my flaws, and goof ups you've been able to overlook or even accept every single one of mine. I'll tell you another thing, KP one of my uncles is a jeweler living in New York and he taught me a little about diamonds whenever we would visit him. He taught me that all natural diamonds have flaws and the smaller the flaw the more valuable it becomes. However, he told me that diamonds without flaws are worth less than diamonds with the biggest flaws, because they are fake. Kimberly Ann Possible, you mean more to me than every single diamond in his exchange hell the world, because you are real and never fake."

Ron's eyes begin to water. "You know the smartest thing I ever did, was protecting you from those bullies in Pre-K?"

Kim giggled, "Yeah, then I had to protect you from those same bullies."

Ron chuckled, "Yep, you did, and it was the best day of my life, right up until junior prom."

Kim smiled huge, "I second that motion, Ron and I'll add a third." Ron looked puzzled. "It's every kiss we have ever shared, since junior prom to just now," Kim said as she got on all fours, level with Ron's mouth. Kim moved forward kissing Ron, she felt his hand cup her head, as she reared up on her knees. Ron rose to his knees, as she wrapped her arms around him. Tongues flashed across lips that opened. She could hear his breath quicken, and morning birds chirped outside the window, as he breathed through his nose, they kissed. Her own chest heaved as her blood raced through her body going to certain areas and inflating the mammary flesh. She felt the warmth of the sun on her cheek. She pulled back as she realized she almost lost control, "We better slow down tiger. While I **really** want to do salacious things to you, I want to wait until my name is Kimberly Ann Stoppable," Kim said, as she sat back on her haunches as Ron stared back at her then let out a large breath.

Ron did not understand at first, "Stoppable when would your name be…" Kim grinned at her prospective husband as the lightbulb went off, "Oh, uhh, gotcha, KP"

Suddenly Kim looked out the window realizing the Sun was up, which was unusual since on most mornings they were halfway through running up and down the mountain. "Ron something is wrong."

Ron snapped out of his reverie as he looked at her then also realized she was right. "The sempai should've wracked us out before now."

They hurried to the window, looking out over the courtyard. The young adult heroes peered out at a silent almost dead courtyard. The only sounds were the blowing winds and singing birds. They looked at each other, then without a word got dressed in their normal white gi and then stepped into the hallway. Team Possible was wary, while they knew this could be serious, they also knew their trainers, the Jiros. It would be so like them to give them a break only to come down harder than usual on them for slacking off.

Ron and Kim moved down the hall opening every shoji door they found. They moved in tandem. One would reach a corner peer around it while the other waited for a signal before bolting to the next turn. Team Possible's living quarters were on the top floor of a two-story building. Once they finished searching their floor, they moved cautiously down the stairs. They searched the ground floor as thoroughly as the top floor. This was where the Jiros slept, where Shinobi Lunch Lady made their sushi for breakfast and lunch. They had no idea where Sensei-sama lived, they had not seen him very much since they began training. Every few days he would show-up and converse with Ron or Kim. Regardless, Kim and Ron did not find either of the Jiros, or Shinobi Lunch Lady. There were signs of a struggle. There were overturned tables and cabinets, shoji doors were ripped apart. "Why didn't we hear anything Ron, this much damage means a fight occurred?"

Ron shook his head, "I don't know Kim, but a dozen of nacos says, our instructors found a way to conceal our presence from whoever did this." As if to answer his question a rectangular piece of paper drifted onto his head. He picked it up and looked at it. It had some sort of writing on it, he thought it was nothing. Until Kim grabbed his hair to make him look up, and he gasped. All along the corridor stuck to the ceiling of the bottom floor, were the same pieces of paper that Ron held in his hand. _They had time to place these on the ceiling before they were attacked, that could only mean…_

Kim and Ron looked at each other in horror, "They knew this attack was coming," they exclaimed together. They were so astonished about this revelation that they did not even call jinx.

"I think I know what these are KP, although I have only seen these on anime," Ron added. Kim looked at him waiting to be filled in, "They're known as spell cards, they're mostly used by priestly mage types in Japanese cartoons. I used to watch back when I started learning Japanese, it helped me develop listening skills, and the stories are interesting. There is even one about a feisty redheaded sorceress, and a blonde dim-witted swordsman, that sort of reminded me of us." he said to Kim's unspoken question.

Kim shook her head and despite the situation smile warmly, before getting back on track. "One thing is for sure, these spell cards needed time to make, I don't see the attackers taking the time to allow them to redecorate, let alone do calligraphy. That tells me that the Jiros, and Lunch Lady knew about the attack days in advance. They didn't tell us, which means they allowed the attack to occur."

Ron grimaced at that as he thought of a reason why they would do that. He began with the knowns: while Team Possible did not know them very well they did know that the Jiros never did anything without a grander scheme in mind; their schemes usually involved some aspect of training; Shinobi Lunch Lady was a very skilled ninja in her own right, and she could be a crafty lass; Ron and Kim were nearing the end of their training a week and a half at most and they would have to leave to get to college on time. _I can't see Sensei-sama letting us leave without some form of test._ Ron was suddenly appalled at his instructors, as he realized what happened. Kim's thoughts seem to have drawn the same conclusions when they both shouted, "It's a test!"

Ron nodded, in agreement, "Yes but it's not just a test, because this test has real consequences to it."

Kim was suddenly very angry, and worried, "I can't believe they would intentionally endanger themselves just to test us and make sure we meet their standards."

Ron was suddenly very angry as well, "Not to mention endangering the school, if whoever it is manages to get away, we're not killers KP, we won't kill just to keep the school secret." He said that last part while venting his anger on the stone wall in the kitchen, shattering a small section.

"I think it's time we had a talk with our revered Sempai," Kim said while cracking her knuckles.

"After we save their asses Kim, I'm gonna kick their asses," Ron responded.

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Fruits of Training

Before they could begin they had to prepare. They split up to cover more ground. The grounds of the school were truly deserted no other human soul could be found anywhere on the grounds. Kim made her way to the front gate to rendezvous with Ron.

She found him surveying the ground around the front gate. Kim came up to him making enough noise to be heard and wrapped her arms around him. She needed the hug to steady her nerves, and despite her independence she did not like to be separated from him. "What did you find, Ronnie," she said into his back?

Ron turned and returned the hug and kissed her forehead. "I found a few tracks leading into the mountains, looks like ten individuals, all adults by the depth of the tracks." He pointed out certain features as he spoke, "See that set of furrows, I think that means they were dragging somebody." Ron looked at his girlfriend, "Do you think we should follow them now or wait until tomorrow?"

Kim considered their options and the time, then the sun. It was approaching it's midway point in the sky and providing plenty of light for tracking. "We should head out now, the sooner we locate them the better. We can always pull back and consider options after we found them."

Ron nodded his agreement and pulled out two pouches handing one to Kim and strapping another to his waist. "I put together a survival pack with rations, matches, and emergency medical supplies," he informed her. Then he pulled out a gleaming sliver sword. "This is the Lotus Blade, Kim," he said proffering the handle to his girlfriend. She took it and immediately fell forward because it suddenly became too heavy for her to carry. Then Ron reached down and picked it up like it weighed nothing at all. "The sword chooses it owner, but one thing Sensei told me during our time here is the Lotus Blade is a receptacle, that can hold any energy, even the power of Hanuman, KP." He began to transform the blade, first into a spear then a Sai and back again.

Kim had heard of the Lotus Blade but never any of the details surrounding it. Ron suddenly closed his eyes and began to glow an azure blue. Kim had seen that glow before the day of the invasion. The blue aura began to flow into the blade in Ron's hands. "What are you doing, Ron," Kim asked? Ron did not answer but stepped over to the area of the front gate, suddenly the front gate swung closed and Ron turned the blade into a plank of wood. Placing it on the cross bars the glow suddenly enveloped the gate, then like a shooting star the light shot out arcing over the entire campus of the Yamanouchi school.

Ron was winded as he stepped away from the gate. Kim was beside him in an instant to help hold him up. "What did you do Ron, I would have thought you be taking the blade with us?"

Ron shook his head as she helped him move. His energy was quickly returning to normal levels, he held her now more to hold her than for any other reason. "I don't want anybody else going into the school and looting it. I infused my power of Hanuman with the blade, now nobody can move the plank except me, you, Sensei-sama, Yori-san, and our sempai."

"What if we need it in the mission coming up," Kim asked?

Ron smiled, "I can always call it to me if I need it, KP."

Kim acknowledged that then asked, "Did you place all of your power of Hanuman in the blade?"

Ron shook his head, "Nope, I kept enough to give us an edge. Now instead of King Kong on steroids strength, I am only about as strong as an adult gorilla."

The past eleven plus weeks have taught the members of Team Possible many things about fieldcraft. Their S.E.S training was quite thorough, and there was more to what they learned than the names suggested. Survival not only taught them to live off the land, but to do so in such away as not to disturb the balance of the ecosystem. Evasion taught them to evade pursuit in such a way that not even indigenous organisms noticed their presence. Stealth not only taught them how to hide themselves but how to detect others who were trying to conceal themselves. More than that, each subject covered by their instructors had a fourth subject that was intermixed in all of them: **strategy**.

While Team Possible followed, the trail left by the attacking force, they concealed themselves from any rear-guard elements. The staff of Yamanouchi had taken great pains to conceal the teen's presence from the marauders, and Team Possible was not going to waste their efforts. They never moved in straight lines, they did not move slowly or quickly they moved efficiently. They took pains to conceal their passage, they were so careful they barely left even a blade of grass bent more than usual. They worked as a team switching off between watching the attackers trail, and looking for signs of ambush.

They continued to follow the trail all day and as the day began to end, Ron and Kim suddenly realized their destination, the Valley of the Yono. Ron and Kim have both had nightmares about that place, where Kim had been turned to stone, and Ron's sister had to fight Monkey Fist who had the Power of the Yono at the time. It was also the time he nearly lost Kim, just thinking about that gives him the chills.

Kim had noticed where they were headed also, she had no memory of her time as a statue, she noticed that Ron would get a haunted look every time she asked about it. Kim saw the looked in her man's eyes, and stepped over to him take his arm. They looked in each other eyes one sick, the other worried. Kim Possible knew her guy, she knew that the look he gave her was the look he got when he was facing particularly horrible memory. She also knew that no matter how horrible the memory, he would sooner die than leave a friend in danger. Suddenly, Kim was so proud of Ron, this was not simply an unreasonable fear he was facing but powerful, emotionally charged event that was sure to bring back horrible memories. Kim gave Ron a powerful smile, putting all her pride and faith in him and who he is in that one smile. She leaned in and gave her world a kiss that conveyed every emotion and feeling she had for him in that kiss. She leaned in and whispered in his ear, "I love you so very much Ron Stoppable. You are my whole world, dream of the day I become a Stoppable. I swear whatever happens to you, happens to me. Your goof, is my goof. Your enemies, are my enemies. And if you ever die on me, Ronald Michael Stoppable, I'm gonna die right along with you."

Ron looked in her eyes as Kim spoke to him, the way her emerald orbs contemplated his he did not doubt that she meant every word. He relaxed into her as her words boosted his confidence immeasurably, and forever changed his feelings toward the Valley of the Yono.

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The Valley

When night fell around Kim and Ron decided to keep going and reached the Valley of the Yono. In all their time at Yamanouchi, during S.E.S. training Team Possible had never been to back to the valley. Therefore, they did not know the area as well as they did other place in the mountains. When they reached the entrance that would take them down in the valley they stopped and retreated into the small forests of evergreens that dot these mountains.

"I don't know KP," Ron said as they contemplated plans, "if I remember from the last time we were here, the Valley is pretty open ground, I don't remember any places to hide."

Kim nodded in agreement, "I remember even less than you, after waking up we didn't want to stick around that much."

"I think then that the first order of business is to scout the place out, see just who we're dealing with," Ron suggested.

They slept in the little forest without fire and ate their rations quietly. They played Rosh ambo to pick who took first watch. Kimberly won, and surprised Ron when she made him get some sleep. "The winner gets to choose so I choose to stand watch," she said to her astonished boyfriend.

Ron smirked and said, "Well played Miss Possible, well played." He leaned in and gave her a long kiss before, saying, "Please, wake me up in three hours," he asked?

The Valley of the Yono was more of a ravine or gorge than an actual valley. It consisted of a deep cleft between two 90 degree walls of stone. The escarpments on either side were exactly 5280 feet high. The ancient river that formed the ravine has long dried up, or become buried by tectonic shifting. Either way nothing grew on the floor of the valley, no brush, no grass, it was barren, lifeless, dead. It was as if the power of the Yono, would not abide another power, not even the power of life to usurp it's place in the Valley.

Ron and Kim scouted the region above the valley looking at it from all angles to determine the best approach. It took them all day and most of the night to search both sides of the ravine. They could have done it faster if they were willing to split up, but being so close to enemy territory with so many unknown variables, splitting up was, they felt, a dumb idea. Besides as formidable as they were individually, they knew that as a fighting force they were almost unbeatable.

Down in the valley they saw a campsite with two huge tents at right angles from each other, situated so they could watch the entrance to the valley. Team Possible carried a set of binoculars. One would scan the campsite, while the other kept a look out.

It was during the next morning that Kim caught sight of a very familiar figure. A woman, with a Gorilla body, she had a short soup-bowl style haircut, and even though she could not see from this distance a gap in her teeth. It was none other than Dr. Amy Hall, one of the premier genetic scientists in the world, her knowledge of the genetic structure of all living organisms on the planet Earth was second to none, which was why she had earned the sobriquet: DNAmy. Like Kim she was a dyed-in the wool Cuddler, unlike Kim who was content to just have the stuffed animals - Pandaroo, being her favorite cuddle buddy – DNAmy wanted real life cuddle buddies. Kim tugged on Ron's sleeve and passed him the binoculars.

He started in surprise, then looked back through scanning for something else when he spotted, he passed them back to Kim and pointed toward the tent facing them. She looked as the severely warped mad-geneticist entered a tent. The flap was up for just a second but it was enough to see a stone statue standing against a golden yellow pillar with a ring on top. The statue had spikey hair, a lean body with big hands and even bigger feet, and on its face, was a look of utter horror and shock. The statue was not a statue, it was Lord Montgomery Fiske the specialist in all things monkey, from biological to archeological, if it was monkey related Monte Fiske, also known as Monkey Fist, knew about it, including Tai Xing Pek War. He was the one who accidentally introduced Ron Stoppable to Mystical Monkey Power, and though he never admitted it he became Ron's personal arch-nemesis.

Suddenly, Ron chuckled as a thought occurred to him, Kim looked over at him quizzically. "I've been meaning to thank ole Monte for helping me get my MMP." Ron sunk down to the ground and backed up into the forest. After a moment, Kim imitated his movements and once back in the underbrush, they stood up and leaned back into a tree as Ron continued. "Without him I wouldn't have been able to defeat Warhok and Warmonga on graduation day."

Even Kim giggled a little at that quip, "I wonder how he'd feel if he knew he was responsible inadvertently for saving the world?" Then they started chuckling softly imagining Monkey Fists face.

As they laughed, they knew they were being watched by something dangerous and big. That they did not _seem_ to notice emboldened it to approach trying to conceal itself. It reared up over a tree thinking to surprise them, but they were not where it thought they were. Then from both sides came two very powerful well placed kicks to the head, that dropped it like a stone.

Kim and Ron examined it discovering it to be one of DNAmy's gorilla henchmen. It was a gorilla from the waist up, but from the waist down it was human. The lower half was proportionate to a human the size of a gorilla, but those legs and feet were not meant to be on a gorilla. They both said the name DNAmy like a curse, they knew well that if there was a law of nature to break then DNAmy would break it. "KP, I'm going to try to get some information from his mind."

Kim looked surprised, "What do you mean 'from his mind'?"

Ron looked down at the prone body in front of them. "One of the things Sensei-sama has been teaching me is how to use the MMP more effectively, one of my abilities allows me to communicate directly with and manipulate the minds of all primates, excluding humans. We tried but apparently, our evolution away from chimps, has not only altered our physiology it has altered our minds as well." Ron looked up at her and added, "At least that's how I understand it from the what Sensei-sama said and what I remember from biology class."

" Who did you try it on when you tried it on humans," she asked suspiciously?

"Sensei-sama, of course, then Shinobi Lunch Lady, and the Sempai," Ron answered then added as he understood her suspicion, "all with their permission of course, I have to be in physical contact with the subject for it to work and there is always a light blue aura when I do it."

Kim turned her away, "I'm sorry Ron for doubting you, I should know that you would never do something wrong with the power." _Nice going Possible, you just told him how much you love him. Now he thinks you don't trust him. If I trust him with my life, why didn't I trust him with a power that could manipulate free-will?_

Ron reached over and caught her hand, she turned back and saw understanding in his eyes. "We have both read the part of the bible that says, 'power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely' KP. Colossal strength and a better memory is one thing but to reach into another creature's mind and mess with things is something else."

Kim nodded as she understood what he was saying, when she doubted him she was not doubting him personally, she was doubting his ability to resist the temptation to abuse it. She completely trusted him with all her heart, but he was still human. After more than five years of fighting those who could not resist the temptation of power, she has learned something. Humans really are pathetic, opportunistic creatures and many would not be able to resist the temptation. She remembered when Ron was turned evil by the Attitudinator. As a villain, Ron was incredibly gifted, able to do two things that nobody had ever been able to do: scare Shego into submission, and; capture Kim Possible as soon as she entered his lab; but even when he was at his worst he never wanted global domination he merely wanted the entire world's supply of Nacos. "Okay, Ron then ask yourself the question now. You can enter the beast's mind, but should you do it and why?"

Ron contemplated her question, "Yes, because we need to know the procedures for entering the camp without serious injury to any one, and I have a plan about how to infiltrate the camp."

Kim smiled, "Really, care to share?

Ron returned the smile with a devious one of his own, "Do you remember the story of the Trojan horse from history class?"

Kim's smile matched Ron's as she began to understand.

* * *

Kim was facing the ground when she regained consciousness. She was disoriented and the side of her head ached like she had been hit with a ton of bricks. What disoriented her the most was the position she found herself in. She was thrown over a massive shoulder, her head facing a hairy backside, and the ground. She looked around to take in her surroundings as best as she could from the position she was in which she found herself.

They were treading down an embankment, and as they got lower her ears popped. She looked around and discovered no plant life whatsoever. Which confirmed where she was being taken. Into the Valley of the Yono, they entered moving decisively forward. It took them several minutes to reach the encampment in the center of the valley.

They did not go unnoticed as they approached the camp. There were murmurs that sound more like the grunts of apes than actual voices. Finally, a distinct female voice spoke up, "Oh, did my big Pandaroo bring mommy a gift?"

The creature, nodded and a deep gravelly voice the rattled Kim's teeth as it replied. "Mmmhmm, Mom. Gift," it said, and removed Kim from its shoulder, and set her down. Kim still disoriented from her position she fell to the ground, and looked up into a set of female eyes. While Kim never looked at women the way a man would, even she had to admit that DNAmy was one of the ugliest women she had ever met. From experience, Kim also knew that for once the outside reflected the inside. A little over a year ago, DNAmy decided to become her own cuddle buddy by giving herself gorilla arms and feet, it was also discovered that she was the one responsible for giving Monkey Fist his monkey arms and feet. She had apparently fallen in love with Lord Monte who did not return the feeling, calling it a purely business relationship. He went into hiding and DNAmy used Ron to flush him out. She had not reverted to a more human visage, so in addition to a freckle spotted gap-toothed face she now had the body of a gorilla, which in Kim's opinion was not much better from her original body.

Kim was dressed in her usual mission clothes, the purple short-sleeved blouse, black hip hugging pants that flared out into bell bottoms. The only thing missing was her wrist Kimmunicator, and leather mission belt. "Well, well, if it isn't fellow Cuddler, Kim Possible." She looked up at the ape creature that captured her, "Where did you find her Pandaroo?"

The creature pointed in the general direction of the Yamanouchi school, "School, big bubble all around, no can enter. Red female following tracks, with yellow puny male."

DNAmy looked around for something, searching for somebody, "Where is the puny male, you didn't let him get away did you," she asked with intensity?

The gorilla-man gave a malicious grin shaking his head, "No get away, DEAD." With that he pulled a blood-stained shirt along with two belts and two wrist Kimmunicators from his belt and tossed it in front of Kim.

Kim looked at the blood-stained shirt and let out a bloodcurdling scream of anguish, that echoed into eternity. "ROOONNNN!" She flung herself over and crawled to the bloodstained shirt clutching it to her chest, and screamed out her anger as hate and pain filled her voice. She looked up into the face of Amy Hall, and she saw a pitiless mask on the face of the gorilla/woman.

Amy looked up at her creature and smiled a loving smile as she said, "You make mommy proud my big Pandaroo, you get extra food for the rest of the week. Not only did you destroy my lambkins arch-enemy making him the Ultimate Monkey King, but you have destroyed the greatest threat to our mission. Oh, I'm so happy I could pop. Now please take Kim Possible and tie her up with the rest of our prisoners. When that mean, old Sensei realizes his favorite student is no more he must reverse that magic that's keeping my lovey-dovey from being with his sweetie pie."

Gorilla-man came up and grabbed Kim Possible by the collar and dragged her into the huge tent that was parallel to the Valley entrance. Kim did not appear to notice or even care what was happening to her. She just clutched at the blood-stained shirt as she was dragged through the tent flap. Inside the tent which was held up by two tent poles sat three people of Asian descent. Two women and one male, the females were tied to one post while, the male was chained to the other. The male appeared to have had the beating of a lifetime, contusions and lacerations crisscrossed his torso like a road map of pain. Kim took all of this in as she looked around the corners of her eyes.

The gorilla-man tied Kim to the post with the man, it allowed her to retain the shirt if she kept it behind her back. She looked around assessing her surroundings. As soon as the tent flap fell on her captor she stopped crying, and just sat there looking straight ahead, "So far so good," she said smiling.

* * *

On the other side of camp, the gorilla-man responsible for capturing Kim Possible was enjoying the fruits of his triumph. On a sturdy wooden table were fruits and vegetables and even bowls of termites and caterpillars for feasting. Rather than being selfish he chose to share his triumph with his troop mates. He would toss them each different types of food he was eating. Each one of his troop mates gave gratitude to their temporary benefactor.

A few hours later five gorilla-men were sound sleeping in a drug induced fugue. Pandaroo moved to one of them and laid his hands on the gorilla-men a pale blue glow began to emanate for Pandaroo. Luckily the only humans visible were emerging from the back of the prison tent.

* * *

A few hours earlier, back inside the tent, Kim Possible was reconnecting with her fellow captives by filling them in on the plan of escape. She told them what their parts in the escape were and when they would affect their escape.

"Where is Ron-san," Kenichi-sempai asked?

Kim grinned like the cat with a mouse, "He's here somewhere, sempai," she said her grin blossomed into a fill grown, proud smile, "his location may surprise even you." Kim looked at her sempai critically, "Excuse me for asking Kenichi-sempai but are you good for a fight, you look a little worse for wear."

Kenichi-sempai, laughed softly, "I have received worse beatings by insulting my wife's cooking. Those gorilla freaks are strong but the lack the training to do any real damage to a trained martial artist."

Kim looked over at the women where Mae-sempai took on a dangerous look at her beloved husband's insult to her culinary expertise. "Are you sure you want me to free him sempai," Kim asked, the other women?

Mae grinned at her pupil warmly, "He has his uses, Kohai. He will give me a full-body massage as soon as we get back to the school. Before I break his fingers."

Kenichi-sempai, paled at his wife's words, then scratched the back of his head in a manner so like Ron that it made Kim smile. Then he grew serious, "How are you going get out of those ropes, Kohai, they may be freaks of nature but those gorilla-men tie a good knot, and I'm not going anywhere without the key to these chains."

Kim's expression sobered as she got her head in the game. "Did I ever tell you, that my grandfather while a man of science, moonlighted as a professional magician," Kim said as she started wriggling about. Her movements were quite pronounced as she almost bent her spine double as if reaching for something. "He taught me a thing or two about sleight of hand, and misdirection. While I was screaming, and making a scene outside, my hands were busy removing a certain of item from my utility belt."

Mae-san smirked and asked, "what item did you remove from your belt."

Kim's hands suddenly came from behind her back as she stood up, "Wade's multi-tool," she said, as she stood up. She quickly bent to inspect Kenichi-sempai's lock before twisting the dial to the right combination. The metal of the knife blade deformed and changed to Kim's needs by using technology from the living metal project. She formed it into the exact key to fit the lock, and freed Kenichi-sempai. Pressing the reset button the multi-tool became a knife again, she quickly freed the women, while Kenichi checked the tent entrance.

"Only one guard outside the tent flap, we could take it out if you wish," Kenichi informed them.

Kim shook her head, "No, the plan is to be stealthy for now." Kim stepped over to the rear of the tent and using the knife again, cut a hole in the tent.

* * *

DNAmy emerged from the tent she shared with her simikins and approached the prison tent. It was mid-morning; the temperature was balmy and breezy. One of the disappointing aspect of being in this ravine, in her opinion, was the lack of any form of life. Even the Atacama Desert, the driest place on Earth had a rich variety of flora that evolved there. This place had none of it, even microbial life was nonexistent, the Valley of Yono was not just lifeless, it was sterile. Amy Hall may not have any respect for Mother Nature, she did love living creatures, for experimentation purposes mainly. What else are living creatures for other than for science to understand and exploit or to be made into cuddle buddies?

As Amy approached the prison tent she noticed her new favorite cuddle buddy was standing guard. This was the same gorillman as she liked to call them that caught Kim Possible and given her a taste of her own medicine by removing her boyfriend from the picture. DNAmy did sympathize with the mean girl, over losing the one she loved. Maybe now Kim understood a small part of how Amy felt being separated from your beloved.

Amy bestowed a small smile of gratitude to her new favorite, before entering the tent. She blinked in bemusement, her mind unable to take in the scene in front of her. She stepped in further, shuffling to the places she thought held her captives, she took in the cut lines used to secure three of them. She stepped over to the chains that held the only man in the group, and inspected the lock. Amy reached down to her bulbous, gorilla-ish waist and felt for her keys. They were still there and she knew nobody had taken them, she slept with them in a special lock box made of iron with a titanium core, that required a biometric fingerprint and iris scan. _How did that mean-girl free the man,_ Amy wondered to astonished to be angry for now, _the chains were not cut, neither was the lock? There are no scratches on the lock like there would be if she picked them, it's as if she used my key. Since Monte was locked in stone I have become a very light sleeper._

Then Amy noticed a slit, on the opposite side of the tent from the door. The breeze was making it billow in and out like alveoli in the lungs. She got up and inspected the slashed fabric. It looked like it was the work of a surgeon's scalpel. She glared at the front of the tent, _didn't that baboon search the mean-girl when he put her in here?_ DNAmy shrugged her massive gorilla shoulders, she would deal with _it_ later. She had no use for subjects that did not fulfill their purpose. She hoped it had a good time eating last night because that would be its last meal, _ever_. DNAmy stood up and bellowed at the top of her gorilla lungs, "GUARDS!"

She bolted for the front flap, rushing outside into the now oppressive sun. She continued yelling for her minions, not realizing that the camp which usually bustled was eerily quiet. Amy looked around, and nothing was moving in the camp. The were no grunts as the gorillmen trained or moved around to seem busy so they would not catch her ire. The only sound was the breeze howling like a howling monkey. The first thing DNAmy noticed since it was right in front of her, was the tent she shared with Monte had been knocked down. Monte and that golden ring pillar-thing were quite visible, she also noticed that her genetic splicing equipment was destroyed. _Why did I not hear my toys getting broken? The damage is really beyond repair, I_ must _rebuild them from the ground up._

The truth is there was quite a lot noise during the destruction of Dr. Amy Hall's genetic manipulation machines. However, when she went into the prison tent and found it empty she immediately went into panic mode. When people go into fight or flight their senses only allow them to process the stimulus that could keep them safe from harm. Amy's ears had probably heard the destruction but her mind, powerful in many ways, fragile in others would not allow her conscious mind to perceive it. Amy looked around and noticed that even the prison guard, that she now despised was missing. She suddenly felt all alone, and vulnerable.

The loneliness did not last long, because suddenly twenty yards on one side were all six of her gorillmen minions, except they were not gorillmen anymore. Their legs and feet, were the legs and feet of all gorillas of their species. Their human legs and feet she had _gifted_ them with were gone replaced with the feet and legs that Mother Nature _forced_ upon them. They were glowering _ungratefully_ , is if she were to blame for being in their imperfect bodies that nature had inflicted upon them.

Without warning one of the gorillas she was forced to discipline a few days before gave a loud roar, "RRRROOOOWWWWRRRRRR!" and they all charged toward her with ungrateful eyes. Then on the other side of Amy came an earsplitting roar and made the other one seem like a child's **"RRRRRRROOOOOOOWWWWWWWRRRRRRRRR!"** Amy put her fingers in her ears and turned only to have her mouth gape wide open. The charging gorillas immediately stopped and sidled away from the roar, back to their original positions.

Five people stood ten yards away from Amy, and four of them had their fingers in their ears like her. Kim Possible stood in the middle of the group, on her immediate left was the younger woman she and her minions captured at the school yesterday. On Kim's immediate right was Pandaroo, the gorillman that had supposedly captured her last night, he was glowing an azure blue. On Pandaroo's left was the older woman also captured yesterday, and to the right of the younger woman on Kim's right was the man captured with the women.

The light around Pandaroo began to grow intensely the blue light almost becoming white. Everyone had to look away because the light was so bright. Amy now knew that the howling earlier, was not the wind it had been coming from Pandaroo. Now as the light brightened, the howling monkey grew louder, then as quickly as it began the light and sound faded. Anything that had eyes and ears in the valley was left with a ringing of the ears and bars of light in their eyes.

When DNAmy's eyes cleared in the place of Pandaroo stood none other than Kim's obviously _not_ deceased sidekick/ boyfriend Ron Stoppable.

;-; | ;-; | ;-; | ;-; | ;-; | ;-; | ;-; |

Rite of Passage

As soon as she could see and hear, Kim flung her arms around Ron and kissed him full on the mouth. She could feel herself trembling, even pretending Ron had been killed had nearly broken her heart. Those were not fake screams of despair last night. Kim knew well enough, and had grown up enough to admit, she was not much of an actress, thus to be convincing she had to trick herself into truly believing that was Ron's shirt and his blood. The thought of his blood made her shake even more as she buried her head in his shoulder, she quietly sobbed as she remembered yesterday, …

… " _Do you remember the story of the Trojan horse from history class?"_

 _Kim's smile matched Ron's as she began to understand. She nodded her head a signal that she agreed with his reasoning and motives._

 _Ron bent down placed both hand on the gorilla-man's temples. A light blue glow began to appear on his body. The aura of the mystical monkey power began to flow back and forth as the memories of the gorilla-man. Kim saw Ron's face grow in horror, then change as he looked with compassion upon the creature whose mind was open to him. Tears began to well up in his eyes, but they grew hard even as he wept openly._

 _Kim knew her man very well the last time he was this serious was the night of the Lil Diablo attack by Drakken, when he made the mad scientist say_ his _name. There was also a resolve that she had also only seen one other time, the day of her graduation, before_ he _defeated two beings that Drakken with his flowers, Shego with her green plasma, and Kim Possible with her sixteen styles of Chinese martial arts, or even all of Earth's military powers could barely scratch._

 _Kim had looked in awe of her best friend/ boyfriend, and even a little fear, as he knelt beside the gorilla-man. When she looked in those eyes and saw her best friend, her_ Ron _; the Ron she met in pre-K when he protected her from those bullies; the Ron who encouraged her at every turn when she doubted herself; helped her find the courage to ask Josh Mankey to the Spirit Dance, when as she later realized, it was killing him to watch her with another boy; who placed her happiness above his own, even to the point of going with her to rescue her boyfriend Eric901 from the clutches of evil, only to find that_ it _was a part of that evil; was still_ her _Ron. Kim began to have a great swell of pity for the one who had incurred the wrath of one of the gentlest, most loving souls she had ever met._

 _The blue light began to flow over the man-beast's body, and watched as it began to shrink. At first, she thought he was using his power to hurt the creature and was about to protest, but then she saw that it was just the legs and feet that were changing. They were morphed into the lower body that she had seen on gorillas in the zoo and whenever she was in Africa. He was rewriting the DNA to correct DNAmy's tampering._

 _Ron stepped back and looked at her, "That DNAmy is a piece of work, KP." Then proceeded to tell her all the details of the camp and what had caused him such distress. He told her how Amy came upon a group of twelve male and female gorillas. She killed all the female gorillas and their young in genetics experiments, but altered the male gorilla's DNA to that of the gorilla-men. She tortured them into compliance. That however is not the worst thing she did. When Ron awakened the mystical power of Hanuman, they monkey ninja lost all loyalty to Monkey Fist, which extended to DNAmy until otherwise ordered by their master. They refused to obey her which was when she unleashed her gorilla-men upon. They had no choice but to do her dirty work. The fight lasted all night, when every single monkey ninja they found was systematically wiped out._

 _Kim was disgusted, and almost wanted to vomit, they knew DNAmy was a lunatic, but she had never shown this kind of heartlessness before. "Let's take her down, hard then," Kim said in a merciless voice. "I know what you mean by Trojan horse, but how do we do that," she asked? "We're not going to actually build a wooden horse, are we?"_

 _For the first time since reading the mind of the unfortunate beast. Ron gave her his trademark goofy grin, which eased her tension hoping his experience with the gorilla-man had not change him for the worse. "It's going to require some acting on your part," Ron said as he explained his plan …_

… Kim came back to now as she stepped away and wiped her tears away with her hands, wishing she had a tissue. As if reading her mind, Ron reached into his now too big for him armor, and pulled out a crisp white hanky, and offered it to her. She gave him a grateful look, before taking it wiping her eye and blowing her nose. _His dad must've taught him that,_ _I saw him do it when his mom was crying at graduation._

Then Kim looked over at DNAmy who looked lost and alone. Kim almost felt pity for her fellow Cuddler, but not too much. If half of what Ron told him about her actions were true, then Amy Hall would get nothing from Kim Possible. Kim almost wished Ron had let the gorillas attack her, just for the justice of their families.

Ron however wanted Kim to be the one to confront DNAmy, woman to woman. Ron might have smacked Kim's butt back in June but he would never hit a woman out of malice, unless it meant the difference between life or death. Kim stepped forward a little wary of the gorilla woman who could play so callously with the molecule of life. To twist nature into her twisted vision of it was more than an offence it was a sin. "It over doctor Hall," Kim accused, "time for you to give up and surrender, you have trespassed on sacred land, and abducted three people from their home."

Amy grinned and hulked realizing she was bigger and taller than her adversary. "Oh, I don't think so you mean-girl, how dare you break my toys. I should report you for vandalism." Then lunging at Kim, she put all her gorilla power behind a punch aimed directly for Kim's pretty face.

Kim closed her eyes and let out a calming breath, to clear her mind of any pity or compassion for this abhorrent female, only mercy remained. Amy might have been in a gorilla's body, possessing gorilla strength, but she was never a fighter. Before coming to Yamanouchi, Kim probably would have jumped over the attack and any following attacks. Now Kim saw that she did not need to do that. Kim moved faster than even she ever thought she could. Amy appeared to be moving through honey. Kim allowed her body to take over and relied on her muscle-memory the way she was taught here at Yamanouchi and with her first instructor who taught her sixteen styles of Chinese martial arts. She side-stepped Amy's lunge and left her leg for Amy to trip over, then jumping into a cyclone kick that nearly took gorilla fist Amy's head clean off. Amy hit the dirt like a meteor causing a small crater to form, but while dazed the mad geneticist was still awake. "Give up Amy I don't want to hurt you anymore. There is nothing here worth getting fighting over, is there?"

Amy looked at Kim from on the ground then turned to look at Ron, she raised her massive arm and pointed straight at Monkey Fist. She could barely string two words together but managed five. "Love – him, - need – him, - Lonely," she wailed. Kim looked at Ron then at their sempai, stunned looks crossed those faces, only Shinobi Lunch Lady was expressionless. _Even villains are human,_ Kim thought ashamed a little, _why do I always forget that? Won't stop me from taking them down hard or fatally in necessary._

Kim exchanged looks with Ron and they understood each other, the fight was over. He turned and grunted to the gorillas who brought several lengths of chain, they rolled her over and roughly chained DNAmy's arms and human lower half together, she was utterly immobile.

Kim walked over to Ron and the others giving Amy a wide berth. She laid her head on his shoulder. Kim Possible is a strong, self-sufficient, modern woman, but even she likes to feel the arms of her man wrapping around her to comfort her. This is just what Ron did and he even rocked her for a little bit. "That was badical, KP," Ron enthused, "you took her out so fast. The trip into a spinning kick was awesome."

Kim smiled against his shirt, pleased by his compliment, "No big, Ron, Amy has never been much of a fighter, now if it had been Shego then it would have been even better."

Ron kissed Kim on top of the head, then took her shoulders and stepped back looking in her worried eyes. "You know what I must do now right?"

Kim looked in the eyes of the man she loved more than life itself, as her eyes welled up she nodded. She took him by the lapels of his ninja uniform and pulled him into a fierce, all-consuming kiss. "You be careful Ron Stoppable, remember when you die, I'm gonna die right along with you, just make sure it doesn't happen for a few decades."

"Your wish is my command, KP. I gonna be there when your hair turns gray."

Ron stepped passed her and walked passed DNAmy to an open area. Kim watched as he held up his hand, and the Lotus Blade appeared. As Kim said DNAmy was not much of a fighter, but if Ron was successful with what he was about to do, he would be facing a master martial artist with years more experience than Ron. Ron thrust the katana into the air and bellowed, "By the power of Hanuman!" Suddenly a snake of blue flowed down the blade and connected itself to Ron, the sounds of monkey chittering and howling accompanied the blue light. Torrents of blue flowed into him and the sound got louder, as he turned it, to lie lengthwise blade down to his open palm. Ron's voice seamed to echo all over the valley, as he said, "I am the Ultimate Monkey Master!" Then he turned the blade and pointed it at the stone face of Lord Montgomery Fiske. Kim heard Amy gasp, but she knew Ron and as afraid as he sometimes is he would never take the coward's way out and attack a defenseless enemy. A beam of light the color of the sky shot out of the tip of the sword and enveloped the living statue of Monkey Fist. Several cracks began to form along the surface of the stone statue. They spider webbed outward as the power encircled the statue.

DNAmy screamed as she tried to break loose of her chains, "You evil little coward, stop hurting my boyfriend." She turned and with a beseeching voice pleaded with her captors. "Please, stop him don't let him kill Monkey Fist," Amy wailed.

Then almost like the sound of porcelain breaking the stone statue broke a part and there stood Monte Fiske in the flesh. He began to scream as if awakening from the worst nightmare imaginable.

The scream was the scream of mortal fear. It reverberated out and was bounced back by the walls of the valley, becoming louder with every echo. Ron watched this display of terror for a few moments, taken slightly aback and concerned for his arch-enemy. He saw the terror cross Monkey Fist's face, which was also mingled with anger, and humiliation.

Ron decided to cut through his enemy's emotions, and bring him back to the present. "Lord Montgomery Fiske," Ron said in a European style bow of respect, sword arm held low keeping the Lotus Blade on the left, blade pointed down, left foot stepping back. It was a bow between enemies, customarily exchanged during the Renaissance before duels. It was not a bow of submission but a bow of challenge, that the British noble man would recognize.

Fiske stopped his cries, but did not return the bow, he stared warily at his most hated rival. Then he closed his eyes and reached deep inside himself for the spark that was his birthright. When he reached that familiar section of his mind he found it… empty. His mouth fell open and his eyes bulged as he realized that his mystical monkey power was gone. Then he looked at Ron as he realized what that meant.

Ron looked at his **unhated** enemy. He knew, Monkey Fist knew, the Ultimate Monkey Master was chosen. "Before we get started, Lord Fiske, I want to thank you."

This confused the former monkey master. "For what, Stoppable?"

Ron grinned a smile as full of gratitude and respect as he could muster, and his voice reflected his expression, "Because you gave me the means to defend Kim Possible, and the rest of the planet, from alien invaders three months ago, If I had never been exposed to the mystical monkey power from those idols in your basement, I would not have come to Yamanouchi. I would not be the man I am today, I would still be Kim Possible's sidekick, not her partner," Ron said chancing a quick glance at her. She smiled at her boyfriend/future-husband, trying to convey all her feelings for him in that one glance. "Kim would be dead, so would I most likely, so would a lot of other people, hence you have my gratitude."

Fiske could have responded with derision, but he recognized that whatever was about to happen would be the last time he spoke to his enemy. This was their last battle no matter who was victorious, therefore for once Lord Fiske responded with grace and as much respect as Stoppable, "I accept your gratitude Stoppable, and hope that when we meet in the afterlife we will not be enemies."

The two enemies stared at each other, when Ron standing up straight, hardened his heart and face once more. He held up the Lotus Blade for all to see. "Here is how this will work, Lord Fiske. I am going to put every erg and newton of the mystical monkey power into the Lotus Blade, thus may we have a fair, no-holds-barred empty-hand duel until one of us yields or can no longer continue," Ron declared. He looked at Kim uncertainly, because this next decision could be the cruelest action he would ever take, or the nicest depending on the outcome. Kim and Ron discussed freeing Monkey Fist and giving him a choice. Kim nodded her assurance and faith filled her eyes. "But, I will give you a choice, Monkey Fist. You have someone close to you who loves you, she has sacrificed a great deal for you, to bring you back from your stone prison." Ron pointed his finger at DNAmy without losing eye contact with his rival. "So, this is your choice, Fiske, love or power?"

Lord Fiske looked confused in the direction Ron pointed, "No, offense Possible, but I'm old enough to be your father, while you are appealing both physically and mentally I am no cradle robber. Besides I thought you were with Stoppable, here?"

Ron was bewildered, then he looked to where his hand pointed, it was in the general direction of the others, then he jerked his head around and saw Kim scowling and looking a little sick. "No, Fiske, he's talking about Amy Hall." Kim pointed at the woman sitting in chains, "Ron and I are definitely together for life."

Ron blushed at the declaration which gave him a feeling of invincibility. He moved his arm so it pointed directly at Amy before turning back and serious once again. "Well, Fiske which will you choose, Amy or Power?"

Monkey Fist never even looked at DNAmy, a look of repugnance contorted his face, like he had come across a particularly foul odor. "There is no choice at all, Amy and I were never romantically involved, whatever her motives for helping me, they are irrelevant." Amy's wail at his cruel words, brought Fiske to finally look at her with scorn. "What did you expect, my dear," Fiske asked as cool as an arctic breeze? "I have stated from the beginning that our relationship was strictly business. I have always maintained my professionalism with you. Besides, only a fool would choose _love_ over ultimate power."

Kim Possible never thought she would see such cruelty in her life. Fiske's last declaration caused her to lose any respect she ever had for him. That he never led Amy on was beside the point, he could have let her down gently. She turned her head to look at Ron, his eyes during Monkey Fist's dismissal of Amy became as hard a stone. Any respect and gratitude Ron may have felt for Monte Fiske was now gone or a least buried beneath his resolve to humble his arch-foe.

Ron changed the sword into a European broadsword, then brought it up and drove it straight into the ground. Then the blue light engulfed him as he fulfilled his part of the bargain. Kim knew her man to be a man of honor, she _knew_ that when he stood up every bit of his mystical monkey power now resided with in the blade. He would face the master of Tai Sing Pek War, with years more experience in fighting after only three months and a week of martial arts training. An icy feeling in her gut moved up to clutch her heart. Kim refused to let it through, she had faith in Ron, and God willing Ron would prevail. _I know you can do this Ron, wipe the floor with his arrogant face._ Kim's confidence in Ron was on her face like the breaking of dawn over the horizon.

Ron moved away from the Lotus Blade and marched forward to do battle. If Monkey Fist expected to just start trading blows with Ron, he was sorely mistaken. Ron came within ten feet from Monkey Fist when he suddenly charged forward with a lunging knee right into Fiske's stomach. The force of the blow sent him tumbling, but Monkey Fist recovered quickly, and landed in a defensive stance. He charged Ron firing kicks, punches and sweeps, which Ron either parried, dodged, or leapt. Everyone could see that Ron was trying to wear Fiske out, make him desperate, and make him make mistakes. Ron was using strategy where Fiske was using ferocity. Ron suddenly left a small opening for Fiske to exploit, if it had been early in the fight, he would have seen it for what it was: _bait_. Fiske launched into a high flying acrobatic kick aimed at Ron's head. It would have put Ron out of the fight if he had not anticipated _something_ coming for that opening. Ron reacted faster than a snake strike grabbed the leg for a joint lock and changed the momentum direction of the kick. Monkey Fist came crashing down hard on his chin, and there was a small crunching sound, and a good portion of his teeth fell out of his mouth, as it filled with blood.

Ron got up and stepped back from the British nobleman. "Do you wish to yield you third rate excuse for a man?" Monkey Fist was close to the Lotus Blade now, it was within ten feet of his prone body.

"I yield…" Then with his agile body he flipped his body up and over to stand by the Blade, everybody but Ron reacted and made to attack Monkey Fist. "I yield to no one," before grabbing the hilt of the sword. Ron stopped everybody from moving and just stood there grinning as a brilliant blue light enveloped Fiske. "Aaaaaahhhhhh!" Nobody could see anything but the shadow as it appeared that the British nobleman was melting. Kim looked away from the brilliant light.

Kim looked at Ron then back again, Ron was grinning deviously, his arms folded in satisfaction. Once more, she knew something other than what she thought was happening, Ron; her Ron would never be happy about the death of an enemy. _Hell, it took him two weeks to come to terms with killing the Lowardians, and they weren't even human,_ she looked back at where the nobleman stood and her eyes grew huge, in Fiske's place stood a young chimpanzee.

Ron walked over to Fiske, pulling the Blade from the ground as he came, "You have made your choice, Lord Fiske," he said bowing again with disdain. "You chose power over love, did you know that Chimps are five to eight times stronger than people, they can pull 1,260 pounds, can easily outrun a world-class human sprinter? I've given you two gifts as precious as you've given me, Lord Fiske, I've given you the power you wanted and the time to see how you like it." Ron looked at Kim and smiled, that smile he always had before coming to a decision, she may or may not like.

Ron pulled the power from the Lotus Blade, and walked over to DNAmy, and got right in her face, "You Amy have a lot of things to answer for, from kidnapping to crimes against nature, the genocide of the monkey ninjas, and the murder of six female gorillas and their young. I'd like to do to you what you did to them, I'm even tempted let these six have at you…"

DNAmy glared at him in defiance, "Do it then, end my miserable existence, I don't care what happens to me anymore. All I've ever wanted to do is find someone who will love me and when I thought I did it turns out he didn't love me like I thought he would even after everything I've done for him."

Ron did not even flinch, he got even closer to her face, his face going from serious to dangerous, "Go cry me a river, Amy. Nobody's life is perfect, everybody has issues with other people, but here's what I've learned, 'to be loved you have to give love.' Unconditionally, without fail no matter how badly you are hurt, that's why Kim Possible loves me and its why I love her." He turned to look at Kim, giving him a broad smile. _Got that right, Ronnie, yes, we have hurt each other in the past, but I love you more than my own life; and you have shown me time and again that you feel the same._ "Amy Hall I am going to give _you_ a choice, I can return your body to its natural human state, where you will be arrested for the charges of kidnapping and trespassing. Or, I will continue your transformation in body and mind and you will become a true gorilla. Which will you choose?" Amy chose to return to being human, which Ron completed after another spectacular light show.

Ron stood up and then looked at his hands and seemed to decide between two difficult choices. "Monte said only fools would choose love over power, well you're right about that, monkey boy, and since I've always _been_ a fool..." Ron turned the Lotus Blade upon the golden ringed pillar. Instead of the blue light she was expecting, a light as bright as the sun above just now approaching midday, shot out and connected itself to the ring at the top. It began to spin slowly, then it picked up speed and began to glow rivalling the sun above. Suddenly there was a flare and a hole opened above the pillar. It was at times like this Kim was glad her dad, the tweebs and Wade were a part of her life because she knew what she was seeing. It was a wormhole, an anomaly in space/time that could be doorways to other places.

When the wormhole opened, Ron unleashed a torrent of blue light the flew straight into the wormhole. Kim moved closer to Ron and placed her arm around him, to which he immediately placed his around her waist. As the last of the mystical monkey power entered the wormhole, a tiny ribbon of blue light shot out and pierced their heads. Kim somehow knew that it did not mean any harm so did not try to evade, it seemed almost like a parting gift. The wormhole closed and the ring on top changed as blue as mystical monkey power.

Suddenly there was a rumbling way down in the ground, "I think we'd better step back little, KP," he said before grabbing her hand and running with the others to well outside the camp. The temple of the Yono began rising from the Earth, but it did not just rise to the surface, it rose above and began lifting off the surface.

"What's happening Ron?" She asked while still looking in awe at the rising monolith.

"Hanuman is going back home, KP." Another wormhole began directly in front of the temple of Yono. This one was way bigger than the one Ron made before, it looked big enough to swallow a building.

"I thought Hanuman couldn't talk to you directly." Once the temple began to enter the wormhole, it began to stretch out like a piece of overdone spaghetti. The wormhole swallowed up the temple and collapsed in on itself.

Ron nodded as he began to explain. Once he said out loud that he was the Ultimate Monkey Master, Hanuman could talk directly into his mind. Hanuman told Ron his story. Hanuman was an explorer from another dimension who became trapped here on Earth over 2,500 years ago, his vessel malfunctioned, preventing him from leaving. He would try to find suitable vessels that he could tempt into helping him, but every human he chose seemed to cherish the power more, and refused to help him. He could not communicate directly with humans, again our minds are different than most primates, but could communicate with lower primates, which is where the whole mystical monkey thing came from. While he could communicate with lower primates he could not possess them, not like humans. They did not have the mental capacity to encompass Hanuman's spirit. They would kill themselves every time he possessed them. Accordingly, he used the other primates of Earth to try communicating with humans, the ones who listened and did not try to kill the vessel, sought to use Hanuman's power for their own ends. Even the so-called heroes preferred to fight for their own interests over his own, but once Hanuman found a vessel he would have to wait for the host to die. Then about 1600 years ago, Yamanouchi Toshimiru, wielder of the Lotus Blade founded Yamanouchi ninja academy and set the first steps in motion to help Hanuman get back home. "Then Monkey Fist, Rufus and I were imbued with the mystical monkey power, and the rest as they say is history."

"So, all of the power of mystical monkey power is gone from this world?" she asked curiously, as they all began to walk out of the valley, to Yamanouchi, DNAmy still in chains.

"No not all, I still have my expanded mind stuff, can still communicate to non-human animals, and I still have my skills in martial arts, Hanuman told me that something is not a gift unless you can keep it." Ron gave her his goofy grin, the said, "He also gave us both a wedding gift."

Kim stumbled and nearly fell, when he said that, "Wha… don't you think you're missing a step, ninja boy?" Kim remembered the tread tin beam of light that shot out just and struck them just before the Yono temple lifted off.

The others had gone on ahead and left them in privacy, Kim turned back and saw Ron kneeling on the path. Ron looked up at her with a nervous grin, in front of the only person he ever cried with, "KP, I don't want to wait anymore," Kim's eyes grew wide as she realized what he was about to do, _oh my God, Lord in Heaven,_ Kim prayed, _please guide me to the right decision, I believe this man is the man you intended for me, but is this the time that you intended for him to ask?_ "Kimberly Ann Possible," Ron said taking a small vinyl box from the pocket in his ninja gi, "there are so many reasons why this may be a bad time to ask; we're only 19, not even in college yet, have no careers in the works; you and I have had a lifetime of adventures that most people would never dream of let alone do. You once told me there are no guarantees in our line of work, that any mission could be the last, one way or another. There is one guarantee that _I_ can give you, I will love you the rest of my life, no matter the length." He looked up at his lifelong friend, and girlfriend. Ron's voice never wavered, his eyes never flinched as he looked up into Kim's eyes, the only hint that he was nervous was the small barely perceptible shakes as he held her hand. Kim Possible considered the eyes of this man, the one person who knew her better than anyone, who stood beside her in battle when he was scared out of his mind, and did not have any fighting skills of his own. Who has put her happiness above his own, even when she thought she liked someone else. From Josh Mankey to Eric901. She realized that God had sent her those other boys to show her the difference between infatuation and true love. Ron Stoppable has stood with Kim Possible against unimaginable odds with a relentless faith in the teen heroine, when others would have run in terror. Even her best girlfriend Monique had only ever gone on one mission before she decided it was not for her. They have fought ninja, robots, henchmen, supervillains, and aliens from outer space. He has rescued her from capture, even when they were not on the best of terms, went to the jungles of the Amazon to find a rare flower to keep her from blushing out of existence. "Kimberly Ann Possible, will you be my wife," Ron opened the box, inside was an oval-shaped emerald engagement ring, "will you marry me?" Kim closed her eyes for just a second, the opened them, "YES!"

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Revelations

Kim Possible straddled her new fiancé and massaged his back muscles. Ron wore only his boxers, and Kim wore Ron's trademark red hockey jersey, and white cotton panties. While she would never have been dressed like this a few days ago, she saw no problem being in this state of undress for her betrothed. _I'm going to be the mother of his children, gotta learn to be more comfortable around him like this._ Kim looked down at the ring Ron had given to her yesterday on the way back from their battle with DNAmy and Monkey Fist now turned chimp. After accepting Ron's proposal, she had asked him what the gift was. The gift was immunity to any form of brainwashing whether it was Drakken's memory wiping shampoo or Simon Bortel's moodulator chips.

Kim looked down at the ring on her finger and smiled at the proposal. Just looking at it made here body tingle in ways that she only shared with her current fiancé, future-husband. They had been practicing intimacy during their last week, at night. Kim leaned down pressing her Jersey covered front to Ron's back and began kissing his back. _For some reason, I can't keep my hands off him, and I'm not the least bit embarrassed._ Ron seemed to be as much a natural at intimacy as he was at staff fighting, he could give her such pleasure with just a few well-placed caresses. She asked where he learned so much about pleasing a woman, fearing the answer. Ron's parents were quite practical and they saw the writing on the wall when he started dating Kim, they made him learn about the female body. Through health books and women's health magazines, they educated him on the 'care and feeding of women' as his mother called it. He told Kim that at first, he was highly embarrassed to be learning such things from his parents. Then he realized it was a sort of gift for Kim, he realized if - _when_ she corrected him - they did get married he wanted to learn how to take care of her in all ways. _Such feeble things:_ words. _They never effectively convey the feelings we want to share. I've told Ron I love him so many times, but those three little words have never been suitable to describe what I feel for him. Now I can show him how I feel about him when words are unnecessary. I am keeping my promise to God, to remain a virgin until joined in marriage, but now I can demonstrate the feelings I have locked inside me. We are learning so much about each other so there won't be too many surprises on our wedding night._ Ron also taught her how he liked to be touched. She giggled, _it's almost like Home Ec all over again, if he's able to teach me how to work a mixer, this should be a snap. And, I'll enjoy every minute of it this time._

When they returned from the battle, Sensei-sama was waiting for all of them. He informed them that their training was over, and they could enjoy the rest of their time at Yamanouchi. Sensei congratulated them on their betrothal, and when Ron tried to return the Lotus Blade, Sensei-sama declined he said, the Lotus Blade was meant to be Ron's from the beginning. Ron was now the Lotus warrior, he would carry the Blade until time came to pass it to someone else.

Toshimiru was the last Lotus warrior, when he reached the time to pass it on, he could not find any worthy candidates. Some were either too timid, or too full of themselves. Toshimiru somehow became the host of Hanuman and they made a deal to help each other. Toshimiru used the Lotus Blade to quarter Hanuman's power and place it into the monkey idols. Toshimiru had four children, two sets of twins, two boys and two girls; he sent them off each in opposite directions, they were to travel for a year by any means necessary. When they reached their destination, they were to drop the monkey idols and just leave it wherever. In this way, no single person would ever possess all of Hanuman's power. Thus, the Lotus Blade would, choose the Ultimate Monkey Master, since only one of true heart, and courage can wield it.

Toshimiru did not even know the origin of the Blade as it was given to him by the previous Lotus warrior. They learned that Toshimiru even before mystical monkey power could deflect lightning or absorb it and redirect it with the Blade. It could become anything the wielder wished, not always a weapon. Ron turned it into a set of military dog tags, which hung around his neck at this moment, with an engraving of Kim's face on each side.

Kim only asked Ron once why he gave up the power of Hanuman. "Love, KP, love for you."

"Come on, Ron there's got to be more to it than that, Now, spill."

Ron looked down and nodded. "You saw the things I could do with it, Kim, not just the strength, but the ability to alter the physical form to become either a gorilla-man or turn my arch-enemy into a chimp. We've both seen how I can act when I get even a little public attention: naco royalties, GJ's Ron Factor." Ron looked at her then continued with his eyes glued to Kim's. "I looked at the power and I realized that if I kept it we could no longer be partners. I... I wouldn't have needed you, I could have saved the world without you." Kim remembered shuddering at the thought, but then he took her hands in his. "Now, with my ninja training plus the Lotus Blade to deflect and absorb energy blasts, you with your sixteen styles of Chinese martial arts, kickass acrobatics, and bon-diggity intelligence we'll be equal partners. I'll still defer to you in the field, you've earned that more than I have, but I'll offer suggestions. We won't have to worry about each other too much."

Kim leaned in after he said all that and kissed him with such passion that it took a little bit for either to get their breath back. When she did she said, "You're wrong about one thing, I'll always worry about you, but I'll have complete confidence that you can handle yourself."

DNAmy was turned over to proper authorities and the Tokyo Zoo received a new addition to the ape house. The new addition was a chimpanzee that was orphaned by poachers, and given the name of Monte, out of remembrance for Lord Montgomery Fiske, who was reported missing almost six months prior. Team Possible and certain police agencies may have known him as Monkey Fist, but to the world at large he was a well-respected primatologist.

Team Possible may have had the rest of the time to relax if they wished, nevertheless they picked up some good habits here at the school and did not want to slip back into old ones. Therefore, every other day they ran up and down the mountain twenty to thirty times. Although instead of waking at the crack of dawn to do it, they woke up at around seven in the morning and did it. They also practiced empty-hand or weapons sparring. Although if anybody not from Yamanouchi, saw the way they sparred, they might have confused it for a street-fight. Kim began reincorporating her cheerleading and gymnastics movements with her qi gong techniques. Ron began doing the same with his dance movements.

Kim continued kissing Ron's back and massaging his muscles. Tonight, was their last night at Yamanouchi. They had to be back in the States by the first to begin their first day of college. They were going to the same college, Wave Point college located in Helena, Montana, having received their acceptance letters a week before graduation. After the junior prom when they started dating Ron really began buckling down on his school work, he was so successful that he managed to bring his eleventh-grade average up to a B minus. He continued his drive to better himself during their senior year and was even keeping pace with Kim in the grade department. Kim could not have been more proud of Ron, it was the first time she did not feel threatened by his success. With joining the football team, and missions, he still managed achieve a 3.0 GPA, which made him attractive to colleges. They took the SATs and Ron only scored marginally below his girlfriend. They would be going to a private university for high school graduates who became independently wealthy or world famous before graduating from high school. Ron's Naco royalties, and both teens being world saving heroes, they met the social requirements for attending. While there were none of the usual college athletics, there were quite a few intermural sports, and sports clubs.

Ron turned over and wrapped his arms around Kim, she continued to kiss his chest as if nothing had changed. She lingered on his nipples, kissing and licking them, while he rubbed her back and ran fingers through her hair. _God I love his touch._ She could feel his interest pressing against her pantied mound, and began rubbing herself against him. His hands found their way under her Ron shirt, lightly touching her tender mounds. When he touched, them she brought her lips up to meet his, pressing her chest into those hands that could go from hard as iron to as gentle as velvet. They were rough, but it was the roughness of honest hard work, and it always turned her on. Her own hands traced their way up and down his abs, tracing the taut muscles. Muscles that began to grow last year from football practice, were now at their peak after only three months. _Doesn't matter to me, if we'd been engaged before we got to this school, I would be doing the exact same things to him. It was never muscles that made me fall in love with Ronald Michael Stoppable. It was many things and all are completely intangible._ They continued the intimacies on through the night, both were quite satisfied when they finally fell asleep.

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Middleton International Airport - 11:21 AM - Sunday, 26 August, 2007

A young couple walk out of an arrival terminal of Middleton International Airport. It was hard to believe that just 48 hours ago, they were in an ancient ninja school, built for the soul purpose of finding a successor to a magic weapon. The mystical monkey power no longer a part of this universe. The two young adults are athletic to say the least. They move with the grace of a leopard and the power of a tiger. They walk hand in hand, the red-headed woman sported an emerald engagement ring on her left hand, the blonde-haired man wore a pair of dog tags with his fiancées picture engraved upon it.

Team Possible walked out and saw the parents of the young lady known to the world as Kim Possible. Anne and James Possible were beaming with happiness when they saw their daughter, with her best friend and boyfriend, Ron Stoppable. They immediately noticed the difference in their bodies and the steadiness of their gaze. There was a maturity in their eyes that belied their chronological ages. They also observed the shape their bodies were in and while it was no surprise to see this from their daughter, the transformation wrought upon Ronald's body was disconcerting.

Ronald was as close to a son to them as their own twin sons were. They had watched him mature from a little boy into a man, as proudly as any of their children. But the young man striding toward them was like a butterfly to the caterpillar he was before leaving for Japan. When Kim and Ron reached her parents, she hugged them both, giving James a kiss on the cheek.

"Well, Kimmie-cub, how was your summer in Japan," James asked his daughter?

"It was Spankin, dad and quite tiring, the training we endured would've made a Navy S.E.A.L. cry."

Ron laughed, "I'd say a platoon of S.E.A.L.'s, KP." Ron stepped up to hug Anne, before extending his hand to James in a firm handshake. Both of Kim's parents felt the strength in his body.

"Sorry, your parents aren't here to meet you, Ron they had to be at work today," Anne told her surrogate son, "you can ride home with us."

Kim smiled as she placed her left hand over Ron's making sure both parents saw it, "That's just awesome mom, dad I have an announcement to make," she smiled as proud as she could be, "I'm going to be changing my name, very soon, to Mrs. Ronald Stoppable."

THE END

43


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